18 BANG SI-HYUK
CHAIRMAN HYBE
SCOOTER BRAUN
CEO
HYBE AMERICA
If 2019 was the year K-pop broke, 2023 was the year that the genre solidified its place on the global business stage. HYBE deepened its hold on the world’s largest music market by acquiring Atlanta-based hip-hop company Quality Control, home of Migos and Lil Baby. It also created a presence in the fast-growing Latin genre by buying Exile Music Group and creating the Mexico-based HYBE Latin America. No longer a geographically confined company focused on K-pop, HYBE’s market capitalization at the end of 2023 was $7.5 billion (two-fifths of Warner Music Group’s $18.6 billion), and its revenue of 1.3 billion won ($1 billion) in the first half of 2023 more than doubled BMG’s $447 million of revenue during the same period. K-pop hits kept flowing out of South Korea. BTS member Jung Kook’s “Seven” (featuring Latto) debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Seventeen’s two latest EPs, FML and Seventeen Heaven, sold over 6 million and 5 million units globally, respectively, and both peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Enhypen’s album Orange Blood surpassed 4 million units globally, while girl group NewJeans notched five tracks on the Hot 100 and won the top global K-pop artist honor at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. HYBE heightened its presence in the United States with a joint venture with Universal Music Group’s Geffen Records that created an international girl group, KATSEYE. Says Bang: “This is our attempt at introducing the K-pop system — precisely its training and development and production system — to the global market.”