A hit share market debut for BTS's music label

Economy & Business
Pre-Advanced
2021-01-28

Shares of Big Hit Entertainment more than doubled their Initial Public Offering (IPO) price on debut.  Big Hit is the management agency for BTS, the massively popular seven-member K-Pop group.

The debut is the biggest in three years on Korea’s Kospi exchange, and will make Big Hit’s Chief Executive a billionaire. The band members will also become multi-millionaires.

It comes despite concerns the band will soon have to do military service.

Big Hit shares opened at 270,000 Korean won ($235; £180), giving the company a valuation of $8.38bn at the opening bell.

BTS is one of the world’s biggest acts, and many investors feel it’s a safe bet that they will continue to make money for Big Hit. Even in the age of digital streaming, their album sales are strong, and their shows sell out within minutes.

They also have a large number of advertising partnerships for products ranging from cars to cosmetics. They recently had their first number one hit on the US Billboard charts.

Only 20 predominantly non-English tracks have ever cracked the Billboard top 10 in its 60-year history. Three of those are from BTS. Their first Billboard number one, Dynamite, was sung in English.

Perhaps more significant in 2020 are their statistics on digital mediums. They were the number one act on Billboard’s Social Media fifty for more than 200 weeks.

In August, its single Dynamite became the first video to amass more than 100 million views in a day on YouTube. BTS is Big Hit’s biggest money maker by far, generating 88% of Big Hit’s revenues so far this year.

But some are worried that the company’s greatest strength is its greatest vulnerability.

Today's Vocabulary

1. valuation (n) 
the act of deciding how much money something might be sold for or the amount of money decided on

2. vulnerability (n) 
the quality of being vulnerable (= able to be easily hurt, influenced, or attacked), or something that is vulnerable

3. statistics (n)
a collection of numerical facts or measurements, as about people, business conditions, or weather

4. amass (v) 
to get a large amount of something, especially money or information, by collecting it over a long period

5. debut (n)
the occasion when someone performs or presents something to the public for the first time

6. streaming (n)
the activity of listening to or watching sound or video directly from the internet

QUESTIONS
  1. Why is the company Big Hit  worried?

  2. What BTS song was sung in English?

  3. On what social media platform does BTS’s single Dynamite get 100 million views in a day?

  4. How much is Big Hit valuation?
DISCUSSION
  1. Do you follow celebrities on social media?

  2. Do you listen to songs sung in other languages?

  3. What do you think of boy bands?

  4. Who are the most popular bands in your country?

  5. Is music becoming more international?