Fakoyejo Olalekan
South Korean record label, HYBE, lost -25.8% in its market capitalisation after its famous Asian K-Pop group, BTS, announced that they would be taking a break from collaborative albums, to face their individual careers.
BTS, which started their group music career in 2013, made the shocking disclosure on Tuesday, and this received negative reactions from their over 90 million fans worldwide, as well as shareholders of the firm.
Investors began to sell off, with the capital market seeing a bearish run for the company with solo career of the band members likely to generate less returns compared to their group albums, as well as possible exit of members chasing solo career outside the establishment.
This resulted into a -25.8% slump in HYBE’s stock, wiping off about $1 billion from the record label’s market valuation, as the firm’s share fell to 148,000 Korean won (KRW) as at Thursday, against the 199,500 KRW it sold for on Monday, a day before the announcement.
Following the shock their solo career move caused, BTS clarified, stating that their announcement was taken out of context, as they were not splitting, but only taking a break from a group album.
After the clarification, the share of HYBE skyrocketed to 155,000 KRW during intraday trading activities, but the growth was short-lived, as it fell back to 148,000KRW at the close of business hour..
The South Korean band, made up of members below 30; Jungkook, Jin, RM, V, Suga, -Hope, and Jimin, have been known to take breaks from group performances, the first being in 2019, while the second was in December 2021.
However, they have never taken publicly announced pursuing solo careers and pausing the group, which is one of the most famous musical band in the era of boom in videostreaming.
