K-Pop sensations BTS have seen the shares in their management agency almost double since debut – leaving the company Big Hit Entertainment with a market value of over US$8 billion.
Big Hit’s chief executive, Bang Si-hyuk became an instant US dollar billionaire.
BTS group members didn’t fare too badly either with each member given around 63,000 shares according to reports – valued at around US$14.2 million apiece at time of typing.
Worries remain in the entertainment industry, however, about the firm’s dependence on just one group for almost 90% of its revenue generation.
Concerns have been recently exacerbated by the realisation that South Korea’s compulsory military service – something the members are starting to qualify for – is just around the corner and may affect how the boy-band records and operates in the foreseeable future.
Speaking at the listing ceremony, chief executive Bang alluded to these issues when he mentioned plans to initiate “new value chains” to counter the current reliance almost solely on BTS, and to push a number of smaller music labels the company owns.
The group itself remains one of the most commercially successful groups in music today although there are signs that they are losing some of their popularity in parts of the Asian music scene.
For now though, with concerts that sell out in mere minutes and advertising deals worth millions across much of Asia – and increasingly so the western world – the group remain the biggest current earners the non-English singing Billboard top 10 has ever seen with three of the 20 non-English songs to have ever entered the global top-10 in the past six decades sung by BTS.
