Bang Si-hyuk, CEO of Hybe Corporation, enters Forbes Korea's Richest List 2021
Cover Hybe founder and CEO, Bang Si-hyuk enters Forbes Korea's Richest List 2021 (Photo: Courtesy of Hybe Corporation)

Bang—the mastermind behind pop superstars, BTS and Tatler's Asia's Most Influential: Culture List 2021 honouree—makes his Forbes Korea's Richest List debut at number 16, boasting a net worth of US$2.7 billion

Just like the pop superstar group that he supported since the beginning, Bang Si-hyuk makes his debut on Forbes Korea's 50 Richest People list at number 16. The 48-year-old Bang is the founder and CEO of Hybe Corporation (previously Big Hit Entertainment), the parent company of the pop juggernauts BTS' label, Big Hit Music. He's also an honouree of Tatler's Asia's Most Influential: Culture List 2021.

Bang's debut on the richest list is partly thanks to the much-awaited IPO of the company in Seoul last year which generated a lot of buzz as it pulled off South Korea's biggest stock market listing in three years. This made Bang a billionaire and the septet millionaires, each receiving shares of their own in the company.

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But Bang's wealth continued to soar after acquiring Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings—which represents Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber—for US$1.05 billion to expand its footprint overseas. Bang's net worth is now valued at US$2.7 billion. While Hybe is currently South Korea's most valuable entertainment agencies, it wasn't always the case. In fact, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2007 with only four employees.

Bang who previously worked as a composer for JYP Entertainment, one of the country's "Big Three" music agencies, founded the company in 2005 and debuted BTS in 2013, which was then considered an underdog group coming from a "small company" in the K-pop scene.

Despite the challenges, Bang's vision as a marketer and producer and continuous trust for the group combined with the septet's passion for music, talent, personalities and songs that speak to their fans among many other factors beat out the odds—BTS is the biggest group today. They recently just made history again with their latest summer hit, Butter, debuting at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making them the first group in history to debut three songs on the charts.

See also: Asia's Richest 2021: The Top 10 In The Forbes World's Billionaires List

Bang's net worth and the company's value easily triumphs over the original "Big Three" labels, JYP Entertainment, SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment and created his own empire from the ground up. Despite the pandemic, Hybe recorded a net income of US$77.6 million in 2020, which was a 19.1 per cent increase compared to their previous year's earnings.

Hybe continues to expand, making a deal to merge the community platform services of Hybe and Naver, South Korea's leading search engine site and teaming up with Universal Music Group in the US to launch a new boy group through a global audition. It was reported that Warner Bros. is also preparing to invest in Hybe.

See also: BTS Announced As Louis Vuitton's New Global Ambassadors