SM Entertainment announced on Wednesday, April 26, that it has acquired Studio CLON, a local post-production company. The entertainment firm made the acquisition through its subsidiary, Studio Kwangya, which specializes in the production of content for the firm’s metaverse businesses.

As per Yonhap News Agency, SM Entertainment bought a 51% stake in Studio CLON, but the financial details of the deal were not disclosed. This is a strategic move for the company, as the purchase was made with the aim of strengthening its metaverse ventures and content capabilities. With the deal, Studio CLON is now officially one of the Kpop powerhouse’s new subsidiaries.

The post-production company was founded in 2011, and since then, it has been providing a complete line of post-production services such as video editing and mixing of various content. It is said to be working on about 2,300 projects per year.

"We acquired the studio to reinforce our metaverse and content capabilities, one of the key sectors among the five main themes announced as part of our 'SM 3.0' business strategies in February," SM Entertainment said in a press release. "The acquisition demonstrates how we're pushing for the 3.0 strategies with speed."

Korea Joongang Daily further reported that SM Entertainment’s Studio Kwangya and Studio CLON would work together on the creation of high-quality metaverse content for virtual reality and related to virtual humans. They will also cooperate for the digital archiving of artist-related intellectual properties or IP.

Studio Kwangya was established by SME in July 2022, and it mainly works on visual effects projects, VR, and post-production. It has been creating metaverse-related content as well.

Finally, the purchase of Studio CLON is part of the entertainment firm’s “SM 3.0” that was unveiled in February.