{"id":117169,"date":"2024-12-02T21:04:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/12\/02\/hybe-chairman-bang-si-hyuk-investigated-by-south-korean-regulators-over-285m-ipo-profit\/"},"modified":"2024-12-02T21:04:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:04:32","slug":"hybe-chairman-bang-si-hyuk-investigated-by-south-korean-regulators-over-285m-ipo-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/12\/02\/hybe-chairman-bang-si-hyuk-investigated-by-south-korean-regulators-over-285m-ipo-profit\/","title":{"rendered":"HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk Investigated by South Korean Regulators Over $285M IPO\u00a0Profit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- no image --><\/p>\n<div><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSouth Korea\u2019s Financial Supervisory Service is investigating HYBE and its chairman, <strong>Bang Si-hyuk<\/strong>, over allegations he earned $285 million from the company\u2019s 2020 initial public offering through profit-sharing deals with three large shareholders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHYBE, then named Big Hit Entertainment, went public in 2020 after building its primary act, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/bts\/\">BTS<\/a>, into global stars. The IPO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/big-hit-ipo-share-price-valuation-bts-label\/\">raised approximately $820 million<\/a> and confirmed HYBE\u2019s arrival as a major player in the global music business. But while the IPO was a success for the company, many individuals who bought shares for well above the IPO price lost money as the price retreated in the following weeks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"injected-related-story \/\/ lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-t-1 lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-padding-t-050 lrv-u-padding-b-075 lrv-u-border-color-grey\">\n<div class=\"a-heading-border a-heading-border-background-color-grey a-heading-border-height-075 lrv-u-margin-b-075 lrv-u-margin-b-050@mobile-max\">\n<h3 id=\"title-of-a-story\" class=\"c-title  lrv-u-color-brand-primary a-font-primary-bold-s lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-padding-r-1 a-article-related-module-title a-article-related-module-title--color-brand-primary\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<div class=\"o-card lrv-u-flex\">\n<p>\t\t\t<a tabindex=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/newjeans-leaving-ador-hybe-amid-dispute-1235841233\/\" class=\"lrv-u-flex lrv-a-unstyle-link lrv-u-color-brand-primary:hover\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"o-card__image-wrap lrv-u-flex-shrink-0 u-flex-basis-144 u-flex-basis-96@mobile-max\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  lrv-u-height-100p\">\n<div class=\"a-crop-3x2 a-crop-1x1@mobile-max lrv-u-height-100p\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/04-BBA-NewJeans-billboard-korea-2024-Elina-Kechicheva-1548.jpg?w=237&amp;h=147&amp;crop=1\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/04-BBA-NewJeans-billboard-korea-2024-Elina-Kechicheva-1548.jpg?w=237&amp;h=147&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"Billboard Artist, Korea, NewJeans\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"\" width=\"\"><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"o-card__content lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-justify-content-center lrv-u-padding-lr-1 lrv-u-padding-lr-075@mobile-max\">\n<div class=\"o_category \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c_title \">\n<h3 id=\"title-of-a-story\" class=\"c-title  a-font-primary-medium-m lrv-u-padding-b-050 u-letter-spacing-0028@mobile-max\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tNewJeans Announces Departure from ADOR Amid Ongoing\u00a0Dispute\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<p><time class=\"c-timestamp  a-font-primary-medium-xxs lrv-u-color-brand-primary lrv-u-order-100\" datetime=\"00:00-YY-DD-MM\"><br \/>\n\t11\/29\/2024<br \/>\n<\/time><\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLast week, <em>The Korea Economic Daily<\/em> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kedglobal.com\/entertainment\/newsView\/ked202411290009\" target=\"_blank\">broke the story<\/a> that Bang personally pocketed about 400 billion won ($285 million) from agreements made with private shareholders STIC Investments, Estone Equity Partners and New Main Equity a few years before the IPO. Those agreements, according to the report, called for Bang to receive 30% of the shareholders\u2019 profits from their sale of Big Hit shares following the IPO. But if Big Hit failed to go public before an agreed-upon time, Bang would have had to repurchase the shares plus interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dart.fss.or.kr\/dsaf001\/main.do?rcpNo=20241129800169\" target=\"_blank\">statement posted to<\/a> HYBE\u2019s investor relations website on Friday (Nov. 29), the company confirmed the existence of a shareholder agreement but dismissed the notion that Bang broke any securities law. \u201cDuring the process of preparing for the listing, our company provided the relevant shareholder agreement to the listing underwriters, and the listing underwriters also reviewed the relevant shareholder agreement in accordance with the listing-related laws,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cIn this regard, we have determined that our company did not violate any relevant laws during the listing process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tA HYBE official provided more detail about the shareholder agreement in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.koreaherald.com\/view.php?ud=20241202050104\" target=\"_blank\">a statement to <em>The Korean Herald<\/em><\/a>. Prior to the IPO, one of HYBE\u2019s investors requested to know the IPO timeline, which HYBE refused to share. Worried about unnamed uncertainties, the shareholder demanded a \u201cput-back option,\u201d or a right to sell an equity at a pre-determined price and time. But HYBE \u201ccouldn\u2019t sustain itself under such conditions,\u201d this person stated, and Bang \u201ctook on the risk himself\u201d and personally agreed to the option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSouth Korea\u2019s Financial Supervisory Service was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.koreaherald.com\/view.php?ud=20241202050104\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">quoted<\/a> in media reports as saying it\u2019s investigating HYBE and Bang for possible violations of the country\u2019s Capital Markets Act, including how a private equity fund acquired Big Hit shares prior to the IPO and whether Big Hit omitted information from its securities filing. The Korea Exchange stock market is also examining relevant documents for potential violations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWhen Big Hit shares debuted on the Korea Exchange on Oct. 15, 2020, strong demand drove the share price from the 135,000 won ($118) IPO price to 351,000 won ($308) on its opening day. But Big Hit\u2019s price <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/bts-big-hit-entertainment-ipo-stock-price-9467597\/\">fell 22.3% the next day<\/a> and dropped another 29% over the next two weeks, leaving many individual investors with losses. (The stock rebounded over time. An investor who bought at the peak on the stock\u2019s opening day could have sold for a profit had they waited one year.) <em>The Korea Economic Daily<\/em> article contended the drop-off was \u201clargely driven\u201d by the private equity fund\u2019s \u201cmassive selloff\u201d of Big Hit shares after the IPO.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/hybe-chairman-bang-si-hyuk-investigated-korean-regulators-ipo\/\">Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea\u2019s Financial Supervisory Service is investigating HYBE and its chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, over allegations he earned $285 million from the company\u2019s 2020 initial public offering through profit-sharing deals with three large shareholders. HYBE, then named Big Hit Entertainment, went public in 2020 after building its primary act, BTS, into global stars. The IPO raised [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}