HYBE has been facing a lot of controversy lately, from the company's statements to their activities. It seemed like the internal document leak was gradually calming down, ending the storm of criticism from fans, but no!
Recently, fans have made many conflicting comments after HYBE's statements about BTS's future. This topic quickly became a hot topic on social media, attracting the attention of netizens.
Here is what HYBE announced about BTS's future comeback and netizens' reactions:
On November 5, HYBE held a conference call about the label's Q3 performance amid the internal document leak controversy. During the conference, they revealed ₩528 billion KRW (about $384 million USD) in sales and ₩54.2 billion KRW (about $39.4 million USD) in operating profit for the third quarter of 2024. It decreased by 1.9% and 25.4% compared to last year.
HYBE's CEO explained the reason for the decline in performance is due to the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer and the internal conflict that lasted more than half a year with Min Hee-jin, former CEO of Adore. Albums have been adjusted to avoid the Olympics, so the fourth quarter will be the time when HYBE artists' activities will be more explosive.
He said that in the fourth quarter, idolss including BTS' Jin will release new albums and expected "participation sales to improve thanks to the comeback of various singers." He also added that “HYBE will continue to do its best to support the continuous growth of New Jeans.”
However, it is worth noting that during the same meeting, HYBE representatives shared their views on BTS’s future activities and sales contributions. HYBE’s CFO Lee Kyung Joon mentioned, "We are currently discussing with the members about group activities in 2026. Although BTS is expected to bring in significant sales, the dependency on BTS’s sales will not be as high as before as that of new business, and the growth of other artists will also occur."
This statement by Lee Kyung Joon has created controversy among fans. They think that HYBE is underestimating BTS's future comeback when the members are discharged from the military. But in fact, the return of Jin and j-hope shows that they are saving HYBE in the crisis period. Fans commented:
- Guess they are getting less because they choose to invest in payola instead people doing good music
- Taehyung’s successful album, layover is one of the reasons for hybe’s highest ever performance in the Q3 which increase of about 20% compared to the same period last year
- HYBE Revenue share in 2023: #1 #BTS (on hiatus) 60% #2 All others combined(active) 35%
- The way all Hybe’s money is from Bts but they always say that they don't want to depend on them is funny
- bruh, they need to stop being delulu for real. we all know more than half of hybe's incomes comes from bts. ofc all the artist are equally participating in the achievements, experiences and incomes but that person really out did stupidity
- “From 2025, high sales growth is expected to be in full swing with BTS full scale comeback” the fact that BTS will always be the deciding factor for hybe’s stock price ∂αми
- Hybe to shareholders: 'Forget our diabolical failure in ethics, PR and 98% drop in net profit this quarter... BTS is coming back next year' Yay...
- They need to rely on Bangtan too much but the way they said like they don't hope them bring much money eww
- "the dependency on BTS’s sales will not be as high as before as that of new business, and the growth of other artists", they mean "other artists" - Jin, j-hope,...
- "lessen their dependence on BTS" Net Profit -98.6%
HYBE clearly plans to continue to develop a diversified revenue model through the development of other artists and businesses instead of relying on BTS for many years, since the group planned to enlist. However, through financial reports, it still shows that even when BTS enlists, Their contribution to HYBE's sales remains high thanks to the products made before their enlistment.
HYBE's statement is considered unreasonable in the context that they still depend heavily on BTS's future comeback!
