SHINee’s taemin Terminates Contract With His Agency
Taemin of SHINee has terminated his contract with Cha Ga Won’s company and left.
According to The Fact’s coverage on the 24th of February, Taemin recently terminated his exclusive contract with Big Planet Made Entertainment. Although there was still time remaining on the contract, Taemin strongly demanded termination from CEO Cha Ga Won, and without any major dispute, the two sides concluded their partnership after approximately 1 year and 10 months.
According to an insider familiar with the situation, CEO Cha had no choice but to accept Taemin’s request. As previously reported by The Fact, not only had unpaid settlement payments continued, but it was also reported that Cha committed a serious fault in the process of signing a contract with an external company without Taemin’s consent.
Cha Ga Won founded One Hundred in December 2023 together with MC Mong, and at the time, Big Planet Made Entertainment became a subsidiary. In March 2024, after his exclusive contract with SM Entertainment — which he had been with for 16 years since debut — ended, Taemin immediately signed an exclusive contract with Big Planet Made Entertainment. Both companies are currently led by Cha Ga Won.
CEO Cha has reportedly failed to pay tens of billions of won in settlement payments not only to Taemin but also to other artists under Big Planet Made Entertainment, including Lee Seung Gi, as well as The Boyz under One Hundred, and Baekhyun under another subsidiary, INB100.
One Hundred, Big Planet Made Entertainment, and INB100 are reportedly in a state of capital impairment. In addition to unpaid settlements to their artists, unpaid balances to external partner companies are said to exceed 10 billion won. It appears the companies have reached a point where it is virtually impossible to properly support the activities of their artists. Following Taemin, attention is now turning to the future moves of other artists.
Regarding Taemin’s contract termination, Big Planet Made Entertainment told The Fact, “The exclusive contract with Taemin has recently ended by mutual agreement.” They declined to comment on the specific reasons.
Later, in a separate statement, Big Planet Made Entertainment announced their contract with Taemin has come to an end without specifying the reason why.
Source: (A)
