- Hive Announces Strong Q1 Financial Performance Amid BTS Military Enlistment 목차
South Korean entertainment company HYBE reported a record-breaking operating profit of 52.5 billion won for the first quarter of 2023, despite the absence of its flagship group BTS due to military enlistment. The company saw a 44.1% increase in sales and a 41.7% increase in operating profit compared to the same period in the previous year.
Hive Labels artists contributed significantly to the company's success in Q1, selling a total of 9.11 million albums, more than four times the number sold in the same period last year. Jimin's solo album and TXT's 5th mini album were among the top performers, with Jimin's title track "Like Crazy" reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Bang Shi-hyeok Discusses Music, Technology, and the Future of K-pop in Billboard Interview
Hive's Chairman Bang Shi-hyeok recently sat down with Billboard magazine to discuss the future of K-pop and the company's latest innovative strategies. In the interview, published in the magazine's April issue, Bang announced that Hive will be unveiling a
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Direct participatory sales accounted for 57% of the total sales, amounting to 234.5 billion won, a 53.9% increase from the same period last year. Indirect sales reached 176.1 billion won, up 32.8% from the same period last year.
Potential Market Dominance: FTC Reviews Kakao's Acquisition of SM Entertainment
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced on April 26th that it will begin reviewing the merger and acquisition (M&A) of Kakao acquiring SM Entertainment. The FTC will assess whether the combination of SM, a music producer, and Melon, a music distribution
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Weverse Dominates as the Premier Global K-pop Platform
Weverse, Hive's fan community platform, is expanding its influence by welcoming artists from some of the biggest K-pop agencies. With its recent partnership with SM Entertainment, Weverse now represents artists from three out of the four major domestic age
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HYBE's CEO, Park Ji-won, expressed the company's commitment to supporting artists and music IP for continued growth. The company has a busy schedule in the second quarter, including BTS Suga's solo album release, Seventeen and Le Seraphim's comeback, and the debut of a new boy group, Boy Next Door.
The fan platform Weverse, operated by Weverse Company, has also shown promising growth, with monthly active users reaching 9.36 million in Q1 and an increase in average usage time per user. CEO Choi Jun-won emphasized the company's dedication to evolving Weverse into a more advanced platform with a global reach.
