Hive, First in Industry to Surpass 2 Trillion KRW in Sales... Record High Operating Profit Achieved

Sales Revenue 2.1781 Trillion KRW, Operating Profit 295.8 Billion KRW

HYBE has become the first domestic entertainment company to surpass the annual sales milestone of 2 trillion KRW.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 27th, HYBE recorded consolidated sales of 2.1781 trillion KRW and an operating profit of 295.8 billion KRW in 2023. Compared to the previous year, sales increased by 22.6% and operating profit by 24.9%, marking record highs for both sales and operating profit. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past three years was 31.7% for sales and 24.7% for operating profit.

The performance was driven by the activities of BTS members and Seventeen, who set new records for K-pop artist album sales. NewJeans, which showed unprecedented results in its second year, and LE SSERAFIM, which embarked on a full-scale world tour, also accelerated growth.

HYBE artists sold 43.6 million albums last year, doubling compared to the previous year (based on Circle Chart). HYBE artists’ share of the Circle Chart (based on charting albums) reached 38%.

By artist, Seventeen recorded cumulative album sales of 16 million, once again breaking their own K-pop album sales record. BTS members’ solo albums sold 8.7 million copies domestically and internationally, proving their solid global influence. Albums by Tomorrow X Together (6.5 million), NewJeans (4.26 million), and ENHYPEN (3.88 million) also gained popularity.

Streaming performance also showed remarkable growth. Especially in North America, artists under HYBE America’s country music label Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) and hip-hop label QC Music recorded steady streaming results. As a result, HYBE’s music streaming revenue last year reached approximately 300 billion KRW, growing about 80% compared to the previous year.

Thanks to the combined effect of album sales and music streaming performance, HYBE’s total revenue from albums and music streaming last year was estimated at 970 billion KRW, approaching 1 trillion KRW.

Revenue from the performance sector also increased by about 40%, from 258.2 billion KRW the previous year to 359.1 billion KRW last year. This was due to the number of performing artists increasing from 4 teams to 7 teams and the total number of performances rising from 78 to 125. The sold-out BTS SUGA tour, Seventeen’s ‘Follow’ tour, Tomorrow X Together and ENHYPEN’s first North American stadium and Japan dome tours, and LE SSERAFIM’s first world tour contributed to the performance sector’s results.

The global superfan platform Weverse maintained a stable monthly active user (MAU) base of around 10 million, thanks to the continuous addition of domestic and international artists. As of the end of last year, the number of artist communities opened on Weverse reached 122, a 72% increase compared to 71 at the same time the previous year. The number of Weverse Live sessions conducted by resident artists also increased from 900 to over 1,400 year-on-year. The increase in communities and activation of Weverse Live have also led to longer user engagement times.

HYBE plans to debut multiple artists this year to build an even richer lineup. Starting with the debut of Tours from Pledis Entertainment in January, Aileet from Belift Lab and CATS EYE from HYBE X Geffen Records will debut sequentially. Existing HYBE artists also plan to actively promote albums starting from the second quarter.

HYBE also announced a cash dividend plan to enhance shareholder value. The dividend amount is 700 KRW per share, totaling 29.2 billion KRW.

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