A2O Entertainment

A2O Entertainment is the new venture from Lee Soo Man, the founder of SM Entertainment and widely regarded as the architect of modern K-pop. The name stands for "Alpha to Omega," signaling ambitions that span the full spectrum of entertainment. Established in 2024 through Lee's private holding company Blooming Grace, A2O operates a global structure with headquarters in Singapore, a US office in Los Angeles handling artist management and music production, and a Korean office in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam, Seoul. The Korean arm, A2O Enter Korea, was set up ahead of Lee's three-year non-compete clause with HYBE expiring at the end of February 2026. A2O's first act, the all-Chinese girl group A2O MAY, debuted in December 2024 and made history as the first all-Chinese girl group to crack the US Mediabase Top 40 Airplay chart. The group scored a Top 3 position on China's QQ Music Hot Songs chart and shared the #1 Most Added spot on US Mediabase alongside Justin Bieber. A2O MAY swept multiple Rookie of the Year awards at the 2025 Weibo Music Awards, and their debut EP PAPARAZZI ARRIVE charted on the Billboard 200. The company has assembled a stacked creative team. Legendary SM producer Yoo Young-jin, whose credits stretch from H.O.T. to EXO to aespa, left SM to join A2O as its core music director. Girls' Generation member Sunny signed with the label in April 2025 as a producer focused on trainee development and artist welfare programs. With his HYBE non-compete now expired, Lee has launched A2O Enter Korea and is actively preparing a multi-national boy group for debut in 2026. The group is reported to include Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai members -- Lee's signature approach to building globally assembled rosters, last used to construct NCT's structure a decade earlier. Lee has branded A2O's musical direction as "Zalpha Pop," an experimental concept designed to bridge Generation Z and Generation Alpha audiences through a production system he argues is built for the post-K-pop era.