U.S. News Weekly Time Features BTS and Bang Si-hyuk on Cover... "The Ultimate Pop Icons"

Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE, and BTS members featured as Time cover personalities. Photo by Time Twitter

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] HYBE, the agency of the group BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan), has been named one of the '100 Most Influential Companies of the Year' by the American newsweekly TIME.

On the 30th (local time), TIME reported, "HYBE is not just a record label or management company," adding, "HYBE and Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, with the help of BTS, are completely transforming the music business. They are the strongest force in pop." HYBE was also selected for the TIME 100 companies list last year.

This year, HYBE was named alongside world-leading companies such as Apple, Pfizer, Disney, Spotify, and Balenciaga.

TIME praised HYBE for growing from a small artist development company that produced BTS into a 360-degree enterprise with intellectual property (IP) like Disney.

It further introduced that HYBE acquired the American media group Ithaca Holdings, which manages artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, for 1 trillion won last year, invested over 500 billion won in the non-fungible token (NFT) business, and operates social media community Weverse.

TIME explained, "The Korean company HYBE is reinventing the music industry," featuring Chairman Bang and BTS members as cover figures. BTS has been selected as TIME cover models for the third time, following 2018 and December last year.

Meanwhile, BTS departed for the United States on the 28th to attend the 64th Grammy Awards, the most prestigious American popular music awards ceremony, held in Las Vegas on the 3rd of next month (local time).

BTS, nominated for 'Best Pop Duo/Group Performance' for the second consecutive year at the Grammy Awards, will make history as the first Korean popular music artist to win a Grammy if they succeed this year after a setback last year.

After the awards ceremony, BTS will hold the 'BTS Permission to Dance On Stage - Las Vegas' concerts four times on the 8th-9th and 15th-16th of next month at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to meet with fans.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.