Bang Si Hyuk Named Head Of A Big Corporation As HYBE Becomes First Entertainment Company To Be A Big Business Group

The first South Korean entertainment company to be named a big corporate group is HYBE. The Fair Trade Commission named HYBE a “publicly-disclosed corporate group” for 2024 with assets over KRW 5 trillion on May 15. (3.85 billion USD) HYBE founder and chairman Bang Si-hyuk, who owns 31.57% of the company, is called the “head of the same business group” (chaebol). This shows HYBE’s growth alongside K-pop’s global appeal. HYBE’s current business report shows that its assets increased 9.8% to KRW 5.3457 trillion, ranking 85th in asset size. Since HYBE became a significant corporation, Bang Si-hyuk has joined the conglomerate elite. HYBE’s new title and Bang’s participation in the Fair Trade Commission’s list of conglomerate leaders are attracting notice amid tensions with Min Hee-jin, HYBE’s label ADOR chief. This designation is the first time since 1986 that Bang Si-hyuk and his relative Bang Joon-hyuk, chairman of Netmarble (designated in 2018), appear together on the chaebol list. A Fair Trade Commission rep said, “The rapid growth of the entertainment industry, fueled by the global success of K-pop acts like BTS and their key revenue from albums and performances, has been reflected in this designation.”