HYBE Shares Slide From ₩410,000 to ₩160,000, Wiping Out Over ₩1 Trillion From Bang Si-hyuk's Stake

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk saw the value of his shareholding collapse by more than 1 trillion won in just three months, even as the K-pop powerhouse he founded reported its best quarterly results ever. According to corporate analysis firm CXO Institute, Bang's stock assets fell by roughly 1.4058 trillion won, or 35.8 percent, between the first and second quarters of this year—the steepest decline among the owners of Korea's 46 largest business groups tracked in the survey.

The drop mirrors a brutal slide in HYBE's own share price. The stock once traded above 410,000 won but has recently hovered in the 160,000 won range, roughly 60 percent below its 52-week high of 418,000 won. The slump has left many shareholders anxious, even though it came right after HYBE unveiled its strongest earnings since the company's founding.

For the second quarter, HYBE reported consolidated revenue of about 1.45 trillion won and operating profit of roughly 170.9 billion won, up 105.5 percent and 159.3 percent respectively from a year earlier. The results were driven largely by BTS's reunion as a full group, and made HYBE the first Korean entertainment company to surpass both 1 trillion won in quarterly revenue and 100 billion won in quarterly operating profit at the same time.

Despite those headline numbers, investors have grown wary that the boost from BTS's comeback may already be fading. Analysts have pointed to concerns that concert-related revenue is proving less profitable than expected. Korea Investment & Securities lowered its target price for HYBE from 400,000 won to 330,000 won, citing weak profitability in the touring business, while NH Investment & Securities cut its target from 300,000 won to 270,000 won amid deteriorating investor sentiment.

Broader worries about the K-pop industry are also weighing on the stock. Declining album sales across the sector, combined with a market environment that favors semiconductor and other large-cap names, have made entertainment stocks less attractive to investors, and several rival agencies have likewise seen their earnings outlooks and target prices trimmed recently.

Adding to the pressure, Bang is currently under police investigation over allegations of fraudulent trading tied to HYBE's stock market debut, with authorities probing claims that investors were misled into selling shares ahead of the company's IPO. The overlapping concerns—slowing growth expectations, thinner margins on live shows, and the unresolved legal scrutiny—have combined to erase a significant chunk of both HYBE's market value and its chairman's personal fortune this year.