LOONA’s Agency Blockberry Creative Reportedly Facing Financial Difficulties And Have Been Unable To Pay Staff For Months

[seokii]

part of me feels like Loona was never meant to be sustainable and was more of a fun side project for powerful people moving large amounts of money. Part of me still feels like Blockberry was a money laundering scheme. I think everything involved with Loona was done in good faith (they obviously spend the money on good talent, good production, everything an entertainment company would typically have) but there was no intention to keep funding this UNLESS Loona took off, which they didn't.

I know every kpop group is a gamble at its core unless it comes out of a massive company anyway. But Loona was just so weird. They sunk an incredible investment in them initially with no long term goal? How did they get such big players involved if this was done with nothing but borrowed money?

Specifically, how did they go from "burning through millions" to acting like a sad broke little C-list company? We're supposed to believe they just ran out of money, but how could such an ineffective company get ahold of that kind of money anyway? They couldn't keep paying their staff? How does that happen?

[Josaline]

39 minutes ago, My Everything said:

Hybe ain’t gonna save an already sinking ship 

But they can buy LOONA.  

[seokii]

Although I firmly believe that Loona has more than enough talent and potential to turn a profit if they're invested in appropriately, I don't see a future for them past Blockberry...

The fact that they didn't turn a profit after massive investment is not promising for companies who want to invest in ONLY the most promising acts/talent (which is most of them, because kpop groups are fucking expensive)

Plus, the girls probably aren't getting paid a single won, which surely is putting strain on them. Can you ask 12 broke girls to hold it together just to try a second time? How much of their career so far have they just spent waiting for gigs? I'm sure they have very real bonds between them, but I also think it's statistically likely that not all 12 will want to continue in the entertainment industry if they don't get anywhere under Blockberry.

And as soon as Loona goes down to even 11, I think that pretty much eliminates their chances of being re-signed as a group with any other company.

I think we're past the beginning of the end for Loona. It's sad. Kpop is sad.

[rananicolee]

1 hour ago, Josaline said:

But they can buy LOONA.  

Eh. Lee Sooman invested in LOONA so I don't think he'd let HYBE buy the group. 

[Nev Schulman]

Y'all still acting like finance experts/ their accountants... just sit down and eat your food. If a group a company highly invested in didn't earn returns as expected the company takes the L. We know that even if the company is supposedly rich which idk where y'all got that from? Is there an annual report somewhere? 

[juniordud]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:28 PM, Iljin Oppa said:

They burned way too much money pre-debut.

Anyways, how the fuck did they pay for this:
 

 

They didn't this was Ryan S Jun project, not LOONA.

[Josaline]

21 hours ago, rananicolee said:

Eh. Lee Sooman invested in LOONA so I don't think he'd let HYBE buy the group. 

Who knows.. Seems like he even want to sold his own shares in SM.

[rananicolee]

11 minutes ago, Josaline said:

Who knows.. Seems like he even want to sold his own shares in SM.

If he finally sells his shares in SM, that'd be a day of...chaos lmao lowkey would enjoy it.

But for real he might take Loona into SM since he's not only invested them with money but also produced some of their work. 

[Josaline]

1 hour ago, rananicolee said:

If he finally sells his shares in SM, that'd be a day of...chaos lmao lowkey would enjoy it.

But for real he might take Loona into SM since he's not only invested them with money but also produced some of their work. 

Hmmm let's see what's going to happen then^^

[Simpatico]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:29 PM, seokii said:

part of me feels like Loona was never meant to be sustainable and was more of a fun side project for powerful people moving large amounts of money. Part of me still feels like Blockberry was a money laundering scheme. I think everything involved with Loona was done in good faith (they obviously spend the money on good talent, good production, everything an entertainment company would typically have) but there was no intention to keep funding this UNLESS Loona took off, which they didn't.

I know every kpop group is a gamble at its core unless it comes out of a massive company anyway. But Loona was just so weird. They sunk an incredible investment in them initially with no long term goal? How did they get such big players involved if this was done with nothing but borrowed money?

Specifically, how did they go from "burning through millions" to acting like a sad broke little C-list company? We're supposed to believe they just ran out of money, but how could such an ineffective company get ahold of that kind of money anyway? They couldn't keep paying their staff? How does that happen?

Loona always seened like a project that was a) either a giant money laundering scheme(as you mention) or b) a vanity project for some billionaire (and let's face it how many times have Kpop fans said if they had the money this is what they would do - well Lee Jongmyung did just that). When it was revealed that BBC (and Polaris) had a parent company, Ikwang Group, that was super rich thanks to selling arms to the Korean military and that BBC's head (and now head of Levite United, BBC's parent company) was Lee Jongmyung, who was the son of Ikwang Group's CEO/founder, than the source of all of BBC's money for Loona made sense. The question is what happened to all that Ikwang money?  Because without it, BBC is not even a mid-tier company like Starship and Cube that have corporate backers/parents.

The whole strategy behind Loona is confusing as well now that all the Girls of the Month have been revealed. What is the direction going forward? At this point in Loona's career if we go by a similar group of 12+ members - WJSN - then Starship has spent the last several years pushing members individually into sub-units and acting and covers so sponsors (basically) and fans can differentiate them. That was the secret to SNSD's success - each of the members of Girls Generation has a fully developed persona and fandom of their own. With Loona, as far as CFs and sponsors and variety goes its Chuu and Heejin and....that's pretty much it (I think Olivia Hye could be an it girl if she wanted but she seems the least idol-ly of the bunch), Even the Loona sub-units are confusing IMO. Why are certain members together? What did Jinsoul, Yves, Kim Lip, Heejin have in common that Ryan Jun picked them for "Not Friends"? I have no idea. Olivia would be a better fit than Heejin. Right now what is Loona's concept? Does BBC even know?

Sadly if Loona does disband due to money issues aside from Chuu and Heejin, which other members will be picked up some other agency right away?  And which ones will stay idols/singers? If we just look at what happened to Pristin - 10 members and today 2 years after disbandment, only Nayoung and Kyulkyung (the two IOI members) are constantly booked and busy and none of them sing for a living anymore [and yes I'm still bitter about Hinapia's fate].   That could be Loona's fate as well. 

Edited September 29, 2021 by Simpatico

[juniordud]

6 hours ago, Simpatico said:

Loona always seened like a project that was a) either a giant money laundering scheme(as you mention) or b) a vanity project for some billionaire (and let's face it how many times have Kpop fans said if they had the money this is what they would do - well Lee Jongmyung did just that). When it was revealed that BBC (and Polaris) had a parent company, Ikwang Group, that was super rich thanks to selling arms to the Korean military and that BBC's head (and now head of Levite United, BBC's parent company) was Lee Jongmyung, who was the son of Ikwang Group's CEO/founder, than the source of all of BBC's money for Loona made sense. The question is what happened to all that Ikwang money?  Because without it, BBC is not even a mid-tier company like Starship and Cube that have corporate backers/parents.

The whole strategy behind Loona is confusing as well now that all the Girls of the Month have been revealed. What is the direction going forward? At this point in Loona's career if we go by a similar group of 12+ members - WJSN - then Starship has spent the last several years pushing members individually into sub-units and acting and covers so sponsors (basically) and fans can differentiate them. That was the secret to SNSD's success - each of the members of Girls Generation has a fully developed persona and fandom of their own. With Loona, as far as CFs and sponsors and variety goes its Chuu and Heejin and....that's pretty much it (I think Olivia Hye could be an it girl if she wanted but she seems the least idol-ly of the bunch), Even the Loona sub-units are confusing IMO. Why are certain members together? What did Jinsoul, Yves, Kim Lip, Heejin have in common that Ryan Jun picked them for "Not Friends"? I have no idea. Olivia would be a better fit than Heejin. Right now what is Loona's concept? Does BBC even know?

Sadly if Loona does disband due to money issues aside from Chuu and Heejin, which other members will be picked up some other agency right away?  And which ones will stay idols/singers? If we just look at what happened to Pristin - 10 members and today 2 years after disbandment, only Nayoung and Kyulkyung (the two IOI members) are constantly booked and busy and none of them sing for a living anymore [and yes I'm still bitter about Hinapia's fate].   That could be Loona's fate as well. 

You all forget one part. Even if the son of a rich group do a group there is a whole board that would make a stop of that money. Rich people aren't doing charity in the enteraining world but business. So in matter to give and allow more money and budget, LOONA has to make that money back somehow, by failing to earn that money with the DONUTS app several board members were rumoured to leave, which is how we saw the Ilkwang Group altogether stop associating themselves with Bbc.

And LOONA had like 20 to 25 millions USD of investment from other companies and the fact that DONUTS is still battling against Bbc for the money. We might see LOONA disbanding, cause why pay back the money for a project and see the amount getting bigger each year, all the profits will be send to those company, when you can just cut short the project and not pay more than what was originally due.

[IsleSorna]

Are we even sure this legitimate? Apparently they are performing on Nov 6 at an online festival (which was scheduled relatively recently), are still active on social media and have a Japanese album release pretty soon? That seems like a strange amount of activity for a company that has no money and is still in huge debt.

[Jtsmith1]

https://www.koreaboo.com/news/loona-choreographer-speaks-not-paid-blockberry-creative/

[Moon Jellyfish]

6 hours ago, IsleSorna said:

Are we even sure this legitimate? Apparently they are performing on Nov 6 at an online festival (which was scheduled relatively recently), are still active on social media and have a Japanese album release pretty soon? That seems like a strange amount of activity for a company that has no money and is still in huge debt.

Apparently their choreographer came out and said she wasn't being paid.

 

That said, whether or not they're actually on the brink of bankruptcy I'm not sure. , but at the very least, it seems they have problems handling finances properly if staff members aren't getting paid. 

[UrmiUndone]

On 9/28/2021 at 10:59 PM, seokii said:

part of me feels like Loona was never meant to be sustainable and was more of a fun side project for powerful people moving large amounts of money. Part of me still feels like Blockberry was a money laundering scheme. I think everything involved with Loona was done in good faith (they obviously spend the money on good talent, good production, everything an entertainment company would typically have) but there was no intention to keep funding this UNLESS Loona took off, which they didn't.

I know every kpop group is a gamble at its core unless it comes out of a massive company anyway. But Loona was just so weird. They sunk an incredible investment in them initially with no long term goal? How did they get such big players involved if this was done with nothing but borrowed money?

Specifically, how did they go from "burning through millions" to acting like a sad broke little C-list company? We're supposed to believe they just ran out of money, but how could such an ineffective company get ahold of that kind of money anyway? They couldn't keep paying their staff? How does that happen?

The rumour in the market is LOONA was made to burn Ilkwang group's shady money (that is the reason why BBC-Polaris-Ilkwang connection is hard to find).

IMO (what I gauged from the stuff I have consumed of them) LOONA was a psychological experiment in order to see if the Boy Group fandom crowd would like Girl Groups or not. Though I do think they needed to go harder, a BG with the same promotions would be a double million seller by now.

[seokii]

10 hours ago, UrmiUndone said:

The rumour in the market is LOONA was made to burn Ilkwang group's shady money (that is the reason why BBC-Polaris-Ilkwang connection is hard to find).

IMO (what I gauged from the stuff I have consumed of them) LOONA was a psychological experiment in order to see if the Boy Group fandom crowd would like Girl Groups or not. Though I do think they needed to go harder, a BG with the same promotions would be a double million seller by now.

I don't know about the second part, but that first rumor is exactly what I have been suspecting too.