Bang Si Hyuk, chairman of entertainment giant HYBE and widely known as the architect behind global K-pop phenomenon BTS, has secured his position as the wealthiest figure in South Korea’s cultural content industry.
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Bang Si Hyuk (3rd, L), chairman of entertainment company HYBE, and members of the K-pop group LE SSERAFIM under HYBE. Photo from Bang’s Instagram |
According to The Korea Timesdata released March 19 by the Korea CXO Institute shows that Bang holds shares valued at approximately 4.8 trillion won (US$3.2 billion).
Bang’s holdings alone account for roughly 78% of the total wealth among the top 27 individuals on the list. A distant second is JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin Young, with shares valued at 362.7 billion won. YG Entertainment’s founder Yang Hyun Suk ranks third at 225 billion won, followed by Danal chairman Park Sung Chan and Cube Entertainment CEO Kang Seung Gon.
The report analyzed major shareholders with stakes exceeding 10 billion won in publicly traded companies across film, music, television dramas, webtoons, and web novels. As of March 17, 27 individuals met the criteria, with their combined stock holdings totaling 6.127 trillion won.
According to ForbesHYBE is one of South Korea’s largest music labels and entertainment companies. Much of its success has been driven by BTS, which has earned six No. 1 albums on the U.S. Billboard 200 as of March 23.
Last year, Forbes ranked Bang as the 16th richest person in South Korea.
