“Basically living off bangtan ft. seventeen and new jeans…”

Recently, the total sales and net profits for each of HYBE Labels‘ subsidiaries was shared online, and the results have many fans surprised.

While the companies under HYBE that manage K-Pop artists are the most well-known — such as BIGHIT MUSIC, Pledis Entertainment, ADOR, and SOURCE MUSIC — they actually have many other subsidiaries that focus on other areas such as management, gaming, and IT. In the report, there were a total of 17 subsidiaries listed, and shockingly, almost twice as many of them had a negative net profit in 2023 than those that had a positive one.

Of the 17 subsidiaries listed in the report, only six of them made a positive net profit in 2023:

• BIGHIT MUSIC: Total sales in 2023 were 552.3 billion won ($407.3 million USD), while the net profit was 140.3 billion won ($103.5 million USD)
• HYBE Japan: Total sales in 2023 were 504.2 billion won ($371.8 million USD), while the net profit was 49.8 billion won ($36.7 million USD)
• Pledis Entertainment: Total sales in 2023 were 327.1 billion won ($241.2 million USD), while the net profit was 60.2 billion won ($44.4 million USD)
• SOURCE MUSIC: Total sales in 2023 were 61.1 billion won ($45.1 million USD), while the net profit was 12.1 billion won ($8.9 million USD)
• ADOR: Total sales in 2023 were 110.2 billion won ($81.3 million USD), while the net profit was 26.5 billion won ($19.5 million USD)
• Weverse Japan: Total sales in 2023 were 62.7 billion won ($46.2 million USD), while the net profit was 4.5 billion won ($3.3 million USD)

The other 11 subsidiaries had a negative net profit over the course of the last year:

• HYBE America: Total sales in 2023 were 226.3 billion won ($166.9 million USD), while the net profit was -142.4 billion won (-$105.0 million USD)
• Weverse Company: Total sales in 2023 were 337.9 billion won ($249.2 million USD), while the net profit was -4.4 billion won (-$3.2 million USD)
• HYBE UMG LLC (management agency): Total sales in 2023 were 1.0 billion won ($737k USD), while the net profit was -23.4 billion won (-$1.7 million USD)
• KOZ Entertainment: Total sales in 2023 were 19.4 billion won ($14.3 million USD), while the net profit was -7.4 billion won (-$5.5 million USD)
• HYBE Labels Japan: Total sales in 2023 were 13.8 billion won ($10.2 million USD), while the net profit was -8.7 billion won (-$6.4 million USD)
• HYBE Holdings (holding company): Total sales in 2023 were 1.0 billion won ($737k USD), while the net profit was -8.2 billion won (-$6.0 million USD)
• HYBE IM (game software development and supply): Total sales in 2023 were 30.8 billion won ($22.7 million USD), while the net profit was -20.9 billion won (-$15.4 million USD)
• Weverse America: Total sales in 2023 were 17.0 billion won ($12.5 million USD), while the net profit was -1.9 billion won (-$1.4 million USD)
• Supertone (app software development and supply): Total sales in 2023 were 2.3 billion won ($1.7 million USD), while the net profit was -6.6 billion won (-$4.9 million USD)
• Binary Korea (system software development and supply): Total sales in 2023 were 0 billion won, while the net profit was -3.8 billion won (-$2.8 million USD)
• XING CAN SHENG SHI (management agency): Total sales in 2023 were 3.0 billion won ($2.2 million USD), while the net profit was -300 million won (-$221k USD)

When you combine all of the net profits of 2023, the total HYBE net profit for 2023 was 65.4 billion won (~$48.2 million USD). To put it into perspective, that’s only about half of the total net profit that BIGHIT MUSIC made alone in 2023.

Here’s how Korean netizens are reacting to this report.

• “There are only a few labels that make money..??”
• “BIGHIT’s sales are almost half.”
• “HYBE America…”
• “Look at the deficit of HYBE America, it’s not covered by BIGHIT’s earnings.”
• “Why are there so many useless companies?”
• “When idols work hard to make money, they forget about other things.”
• “Why are they in the game business?”
• “This is the No. 1 in the industry…?”
• “BTS still feeds you.”

International fans also seem to have similar opinions regarding the surprising net profits for each of HYBE’s subsidiaries in 2023.

Were you surprised by this report?

Source: The Qoo and Pann Choa