Four major K-pop labels saw their shares fall an average of 19% in 2024, a change from the average gain of 30% in 2023.
In a report of Advertising billboardthe four labels demonstrated a lackluster performance, which “performed worse than the South Korean stock index.”
Despite their expansion from home soil as K-pop proliferates around the world, especially in the Americas, the outlet reported that the agencies have failed to reap their respective rewards, partly due to a lack of new releases and concerts.
Most notable was BTS’s label, HYBE, which saw a precipitous 99% drop in third-quarter net profit on lower revenue from concerts and recorded music, as opposed to the previous second quarter, where the company had managed to achieve a personal best for quarterly revenue.
HYBE shares also fell 17.2% to 193,400 won (about $131) in 2024, as it found itself embroiled in a series of internal disputes, including the controversial termination of NewJeans’ contract.
Company president Bang Si Hyuk is also reportedly being investigated by South Korean regulators for brokering a “profit-sharing deal with early investors that resulted in Bang making a profit of $285 million from the public offering of the company in 2020”.
Three other major companies, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment fared no better.
SM Entertainment, home to NCT, Red Velvet and aespa groups, posted a 17.9% drop in share price to 75,600 won (about $51) with net profit down more than 95% on revenue lower than 9%. % in the third quarter.
JYP Entertainment, owner of GOT7, Stray Kids and iTZY, lost 31% of its stock value to 69,900 won (about $47).
YG Entertainment, manager of BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER, has gotten the best of the agencies, often called “The Big Three” for their dominance in the Korean entertainment industry.
YG shares fell 10% to 45,800 won (about $31) in 2024, with total revenue down 42% “year-on-year,” while net profit of 14.8 billion won ($10 million) in the third quarter of 2023 it turned into a 937 million ($636,000) net loss.”
While Advertising billboard attributed some of the factors to the poor performance of Korean stocks across the board (the KOSPI fell 9.6% in 2024), the outlet placed much of the blame on the country’s political turmoil around Prime Minister Yoon Suk Yeol, which declared martial law on December 3. The unilateral move had a strong impact on KOSPI, which fell by 4.3%.
Since then, South Korea has faced many conflicts with the impeachment of Yeol and the impeachment of Han Duck-soo, the appointed interim president, who was dismissed on December 27.
According to Korean outlet Yonhap, the Korean won hit its all-time low since March 13, 2009, during the global financial crisis, trading at 1,467.5 per dollar. In 2009, the won was 1,483.5 per dollar.
