MBW Explains is a series of analytical features in which we explore the context behind major music industry talking points – and suggest what might happen next. Only MBW+ subscribers have unlimited access to these articles.
HYBE, the largest K-pop company in the world, has made waves in the global music industry since breaking BTS.
Its most notable move in recent years was the $1 billion-plus acquisition of Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2021.
Braun joined the board of HYBE and became CEO of what is now known as HYBE America. He remains a significant shareholder in the company, as you will see below.
Last year, HYBE expanded into the rapidly-growing Latin music market with its acquisition of Exile Music, which formed the foundation of the new HYBE Latin America.
Most recently, as part of its new HYBE 2.0 strategy, HYBE launched a label services business in the US and a new division called HYBE MUSIC GROUP APAC, which oversees all of the company’s music label businesses based in Korea and Japan.
Clearly, HYBE is aiming to be a major global player in the music space – and, arguably, it’s getting there.
As of last count, HYBE had a market capitalization of KRW 7.16 trillion (USD $5.37 billion) – not exactly on the scale of Universal Music Group, but not half bad for a company formed just 19 years ago (known back then as Big Hit Entertainment).
The company’s revenue for 2023 came in at USD$1.66 billion, with 64% of that coming from outside its home market of South Korea.
Despite its balance sheet successes, HYBE’s stock price has taken a hit in 2024; it was down 31.68% year-to-date, as of market close on September 9.
That decline can be largely attributed to a general cause – this hasn’t been a great year for entertainment company stocks – and to a more specific cause: The conflict between HYBE and Min Hee-jin, the now-former CEO of HYBE-owned ADOR, the label behind girl group NewJeans.
HYBE oustedMin from her role at ADOR in August, after months of acrimony between the label and the executive.
The company accused Min of engineering a plot to seize control of ADOR. Min has denied the allegations.
(Following her ouster, HYBE offered Min a contract to stay on as NewJeans’ producer, but she declined.)
All this has put downward pressure on HYBE’s share price, amid questions about how well HYBE’s multi-label structure – the first of its kind in South Korea’s burgeoning music industry – is working out.
One music industry expert suggested that HYBE’s focus on “competition” rather than “synergy” between labels may be at the heart of the problem.
That seems to ring true: Min’s initial gripe against HYBE was reportedly that girl group ILLIT, developed by another HYBE label, Belift Lab, was copying NewJeans.
Nevertheless, HYBE continues to be a multi-billion-dollar company.
Yet who, exactly, is reaping the benefits from its growth story?
MBW has dug through DART – South Korea’s repository of regulatory filings – and combined that with data from various research reports to paint a picture of HYBE’s ownership structure today.
Not surprisingly, HYBE’s largest shareholder is Bang Si-hyuk, the company’s founder who stepped down as CEO in 2021, but remains HYBE’s Chairman.
Bang became a billionaire when he took HYBE public in October 2020, and the data shows he has retained that status.
According to HYBE’s most recent semi-annual report filed with DART, as of June 30, 2024, Bang held 13.15 million of HYBE’s 41.65 million common shares, or 31.57% of the total.
At HYBE’s market price at close on September 9, that slice of the company was worth KRW 2.170 trillion (USD$1.619 billion).
Bang Jun-hyuk and Netmarble Corporation
It’s not uncommon for South Korea’s chaebol – aka giant corporations – to keep ownership within the family, and while HYBE may not entirely qualify as a chaebol (it’s not exactly Samsung or LG), its ownership structure does have an echo of that South Korean tradition.
HYBE’s second largest shareholder is Netmarble Corporation, a video game developer founded in 2000 by Bang Jun-hyuk – a relative of HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk.
According to HYBE’s semi-annual report, Netmarble owned 3.93 million shares of HYBE as of June 30, giving it a 9.44% share of the company. As of September 9, that stake in HYBE was worth $483.8 million.
Netmarble’s stake in HYBE appears to have been diluted in the K-pop company’s IPO. According to news reports out of South Korea, Netmarble initially took a 25.71% stake in HYBE back in 2018, two years before the IPO.
And Netmarble’s relationship with HYBE is more than fiscal: It has developed content in partnership with HYBE, including BTS World, a game featuring the members of the K-pop group.
According to Netmarble’s disclosures, as of the end of 2023, Bang Jun-hyuk owned 24.12% of Netmarble, effectively giving him control of an additional 2.27% of HYBE.
National Pension Service
The third-largest shareholder in HYBE is the investment arm of South Korea’s National Pension Service, the country’s public retirement pension fund.
This is no small fund: It’s the world’s third-largest public pension fund, with some $850 billion in assets under management.
It holds 2.65 million shares of HYBE, or 6.36%, worth $325.9 million at last count.
Dunamu
Co. Ltd.
HYBE’s fourth-largest shareholder is Dunamu Co., a fintech company that specializes in blockchain asset trading. It operates the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, a leading crypto exchange in South Korea.
It was founded by Song Chi-hyung, who Forbes estimates is worth $950 million.
As of June 20, Dunamu held 2.30 million shares of HYBE, or 5.53% of the total, valued at $283.4 million as of September 9.
Credit: Big Hit
BTS
There’s little doubt that BTS – the boy band comprised of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, are the musical phenomenon that propelled HYBE into its position as the biggest K-pop agency in the world, and the group’s seven members have been rewarded for that with considerable holdings of HYBE stock.
According to research from Korea CXO Research Institute, released in late 2023 and reported on in Korean media, the seven members of BTS were each given 68,385 shares of the company when they renewed their contracts in 2018.
Based on the outstanding amount of shares as of June 30, that would give each of them about 0.16% of the company; however, some of them appear to have sold some part of that stake.
According to the Korea CXO Research Institute’s data, as of early 2023, three BTS members had reduced their stakes: J-Hope owned 62,784 shares as of that time, while RM and Jin held slightly smaller stakes than that.
At the stock price at the end of the trading day on September 9, a holding of 68,385 shares would have been worth around $8.42 million.
In all, the seven BTS members were granted some 478,695 shares of HYBE, or around 1.15% of the total outstanding shares as of June 30.
Scooter Braun
As CEO of HYBE America, Scooter Braun owns a considerable chunk of HYBE: according to HYBE’s semi-annual report, Braun held 362,292 shares of HYBE as of June 30, or around 0.87% of the total.
As of the September 9 stock price, that stake would have been worth about $44.6 million.
Other shareholders
HYBE’s mid-year disclosures also listed a number of shareholders who are executives either at the company or at its affiliates, and who are listed as owning relatively small stakes in the company.
Notable among them is the above-mentioned Min Hee-jin. As of June 30, the former ADOR CEO (pictured inset) held 2,700 shares of HYBE, or 0.01% of the total, per HYBE’s DART filing.
HYBE’s regulatory filing also lists Lee Da Hye as a shareholder, with 2,161 shares.
Da Hye is CEO of Pledis Entertainment, another label within HYBE’s multi-label system. HYBE took a majority stake in Pledis in 2020. Da Hye works alongside Sung Soo Han, Pledis Entertainment’s founder and ‘Master Professional’. Da Hye’s holdings amount to 0.0005% of all outstanding shares.
According to HYBE’s regulatory filing, it owned a 90% stake in Pledis as of June 30.
Also listed as a shareholder is Lee Ga-jun, the Head of Operations at Belift Lab, a label started as a joint venture between HYBE and CJ ENM in 2018, and fully acquired by HYBE in 2023. Belift is best known for being the label behind K-pop stars ENHYPEN. According to HYBE’s regulatory filing, it owned 100% of Beflift lab as of June 30.
Lee is listed as owning 1,562 shares of HYBE, or 0.0004% of the total.
Then there is Young Jae Shin, President of BIGHIT MUSIC, the HYBE label whose name the entire group shared until its rebranding as HYBE in 2021. As part of a reorg earlier this year, Shin was also appointed President of HYBE MUSIC GROUP APAC.
According to HYBE’s semi-annual report, Shin held 1,302 shares of HYBE as of June 30, or 0.0003% of the total.
Another notable listed shareholder is Joon Choi, President of HYBE-owned Weverse, the fan platform that forms a key part of the K-pop giant’s strategy to monetize superfans.
Weverse has seen significant growth in users over the past several years, making the app a closely-watched phenomenon in the music industry. Some are doing more than watching; Universal Music Groupinvested in Weverse earlier this year, as part of a 10-year exclusive distribution deal between UMG and HYBE.
As of June 30, Joon held just 60 shares in HYBE.
HYBE held a 55.4% stake in Weverse as of June 30, according to its regulatory filing.
The company confirms in its regulatory filing that the amount it spent to acquire the 55.4% stake in Weverse was 164.4 billion KRW ($122m at today’s exchange rate).
According to HYBE, the remaining shares of Weverse are owned by Korean tech and software company Naver and “other shareholders”.
Sources tell MBW that UMG made a minority investment in Weverse as part of its partnership with HYBE, as announced in March.
In 2021, Naverinvested approximately 354.8 billion won (approximately $321.6m) in HYBE subsidiary beNX – the HYBE subsidiary that developed Weverse. BeNX then acquired Naver’s V LIVE division.
At the time, the board of HYBE, then known as Big Hit Entertainment, voted to change the name of beNX to WEVERSE COMPANY Inc.
The users, content and services of Weverse and V LIVE were then integrated to create a single global fan community platform.Music Business Worldwide
