Major changes atop South Korea's HYBE as CEO Bang Si-hyuk steps down

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

Bang Si-hyuk (pictured, below), the CEO of HYBE, who has turned the South Korean music company formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment into an international powerhouse and took it to the stock market, has announced his decision to step down from his role, as part of a re-alignment of the company's businesses in South Korea, the US and Japan.



 Park Ji-won, who joined the company in May 2020 will now serve as CEO while Bang Si-hyuk will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors and will focus on music production. Park Ji-won will be in charge of HYBE’s overall management strategy and operations.

  HYBE will now focus on its activities in the US, where CEO Yoon Seok-jun and Scooter Braun will be in charge of HYBE America's operations. The US management team will be strengthened with the arrival of Jaesang Lee, HYBE's Chief Strategy Officer, who led HYBE’s acquisition of Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings, and who will relocate to the US to become Chief Operation Officer of HYBE America. He will be in charge of “maximising synergy between HYBE’s business structure and Ithaca Holdings.” 

Transplant HYBE's K-pop business model to the US

  HYBE plans are to “fully transplanting the K-pop business model to the US market,” with Yoon tasked with "localising the K-pop business model in the US music industry by supervising the entire process from training, production, marketing, etc. A global audition will kickstart the collaborative effort after the establishment of the joint venture.” 

  Meanwhile, Braun will “strengthen HYBE’s position and competitiveness in the United States while leading the existing Ithaca Holdings business."

  The announcement also included the disclosure that the company in Japan will now function as a regional entity. HYBE Japan, which was formed by the merger of HYBE Solutions Japan and HYBE T&D Japan, will operate as a stand-alone entity with former CEO of HYBE Solutions Japan, Han Hyunrock, as its CEO. The company will sign its own roster of artists in Japan and develop the careers of international acts in the Japanese market. 

  Commented the company: “We have restructured the scope of roles and responsibilities to suit the expertise of each leader so they can aggressively lead and expand in the Korean, the US, and Japanese markets.”