BigHit saw a 27% jump in half-year profits as its online concert and merchandise sales more than offset event cancellations during COVID-19

[satoori]

K-Pop group BTS' label Big Hit posts profit jump as it prepares for IPO

SEOUL (Reuters) - Big Hit Entertainment, the management label of hugely popular South Korean K-Pop group BTS, saw a 27% jump in half-year profits as its online concert and merchandise sales more than offset event cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, Big Hit received preliminary approval for its planned initial public offering (IPO), with a listing expected later this year. Some analysts have forecast the IPO could value the company at 4 trillion won ($3.4 billion) or more.

Big Hit on Thursday posted 49.7 billion won in operating profit on 294 billion won in revenue in the first half of 2020. This compares to about 39.1 billion won operating profit and 201 billion won in revenue during the first half of 2019. “Big Hit responded well in the face of an unexpected global crisis,” global business CEO Lenzo Yoon said in an online presentation.

BTS, a seven-member boy band with a message of self-confidence, became the first group since the Beatles to score three No. 1 albums in a year on the Billboard 200 charts in 2019.

Although BTS’ planned tour of more than 20 concerts in the United States, Europe and Asia was cancelled, some 756,000 people globally paid to watch BTS’ online concert in June simultaneously, an audience size equal to about 15 stadium concerts, Yoon said.

About 746,000 merchandise items for the online concert were sold within a week on its Weverse dedicated app.

Big Hit also sells secondary content including artist-based characters, illustrated books of lyrics, textbooks, games and licensing including BTS edition of Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) smartphones and Starbucks (SBUX.O) products, which company officials said had helped it prosper despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big Hit acquired two K-Pop labels and established a third as a joint venture last year, chairman and CEO Bang Si-hyuk said, addressing market concerns that Big Hit needs to diversify its revenue streams beyond BTS.

Signings include boyband Seventeen, which sold 1.45 million albums last year.

[satoori]

Big Hit posts estimated sales of 294 bln won, announces concerts in Oct.

SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Yonhap) -- Big Hit Entertainment, the label-management agency of K-pop giants BTS, announced Thursday that its estimated sales revenue during the first half of 2020 reached 294 billion won (US$244.8 million) on the back of strong album sales and paid online concert revenues.

In a biannual corporate briefing held on YouTube, the company added that its estimated operating profit during the January-June period reached 49.7 billion won. Big Hit said the numbers were subject to an audit before confirmation.

Despite the cancellation of BTS' world tour and other activities due to COVID-19, Big Hit said it managed to achieve strong sales from outstanding digital and physical albums sales as well as the mega successful paid online concert by BTS held in June.

The event came about a week after Big Hit was approved by the Korea Exchange, South Korea's bourse operator, in a preliminary review to be listed on the country's benchmark KOSPI stock index.

Thanks to Big Hit's past acquisitions of K-pop agencies Pledis and Source Music, of the top 100 albums on the Korea Music Content Association-operated Gaon chart, about 40 percent of all albums sold during the period in terms of volume were part of "Big Hit Labels." These acts include idol groups BTS, Seventeen, NU'EST, GFriend and TXT.

Big Hit also announced that BTS will hold a concert series, titled "BTS Map Of The Soul ON:E," via both in-person and virtually streamed events in October.

[Brightsun]

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