You may have noticed from our coverage this week that we’ve been digging through HYBE’s regulatory filings.
By doing so, we’ve been able to paint a solid picture of the South Korean entertainment giant’s ownership structure in 2024.
As we reported Tuesday (September 10), the second-largest shareholder in HYBE is Netmarble Corporation, a video game developer founded in 2000 by Bang Jun-hyuk – a relative of HYBE’s largest shareholder, and founder/Chairman, Bang Si-hyuk.
But the constitution of HYBE’s shareholding structure wasn’t the only interesting detail we discovered when reviewing the firm’s semi-annual report.
Here’s another one: HYBE recently spent USD $25 million to acquire a 51% stake in an unknown company.
According to the filing, in a section dedicated to events that “occured after the date of writing”, the “consolidated company entered into an agreement to acquire shares of another corporation for USD 25 million on August 1, 2024.”
This section of the regulatory filing added that, “through this transaction, the consolidated company’s [HYBE’s] shareholding is 51%, and it is scheduled to be incorporated as a subsidiary in the third quarter.”
HYBE’s swooping for a majority stake in the mystery firm follows a trend of M&A deals struck by the K-Pop giant as it expands globally and into various verticals other than music.
In November 2023, HYBE expanded into the booming Latin Music market, for example, by acquiring the Latin Music company Exile Music.
And in February last year, HYBE America, led by Scooter Braun, acquired Atlanta rap powerhouse QC Media Holdings aka Quality Control, home to acts such as Lil Baby, Migos, Lil Yachty and City Girls, in a deal was worth $300 million, according to Korean regulator filings.
HYBE’s most notable M&A move in recent years, however, was the $1 billion-plus acquisition of Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2021.
The company has also invested significant sums in labels within HYBE’s multi-label system, such as Pledis, in which HYBE took a majority stake in 2020.
Elsewhere, just last month, when HYBE announced its HYBE 2.0 restructure, it revealed that it had been “exploring new business opportunities.”
It added that it planned to make “discreet investments” in the following areas: gaming, audio/voice technology, generative AI, Original Story Business (OSB), and Integrated online and offline experiences.
The company has already been investing in these spaces over the past few years of course.
In the games sector, for example, as we reported last month, the company’s video games unit, HYBE Interactive Media, raised $80 million to expand its development and publishing efforts. In 2022, HYBE acquired a stake in game developer Flint, maker of the popular Dragon Blaze game.
Last summer, as reported by Venture Beat, HYBE and its gaming arm HYBE IM invested $21.8 million in South Korea-based developer Aqua Tree and another $1.45 million into South Korea-based Action Square earlier this year.
Meanwhile, in the AI space, HYBE struck a $32 million deal for Voice AI platform Supertone in 2023.
Not much is known about the company referenced in the regulatory update from August 1 mentioned above, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on HYBE’s filings in the coming weeks.
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