Big Hit Entertainment, the company behind K-Pop superstars BTS, has published its preliminary results for Q3 2020.
The financials are Big Hit’s first to be released since making its blockbuster stock market debut in Korea last month.
The company’s total valuation at the end of its first day of trading on October 15 hit 8.7 trillion South Korea won ($7.6bn), making founder and CEO Bang Si-hyuk – with his 36.6% ($2.8bn) stake – the sixth richest person in Korea.
According to Korean newspaper Kyunghyang, Big Hit’s revenues in Q3 2020 grew 54% year-over-year to 190 billion South Korean Won (approximately $171m), while its net profit grew 92% year-over-year to 27.2bn South Korea won ($24.5m).
The company’s operating profits across the quarter were up 73% year-over-year to 40.1bn South Korea Won ($36m).
Meanwhile, according to Kyunghyang, Big Hit’s combined revenues for the first nine months of the year were 484bn South Korea won ($436m), up 9% on the same period in 2019.
Operating profit for first nine months of the year was 89.9bn won ($81m) (+20%), while the company’s combined net profit for this period grew 13% to 60.4 South Korea won ($54m).
Driving Big Hit’s revenues in Q3, according to the company, were strong album sales as well as it’s acquisition of Seoul-based K-Pop label Pledis Entertainment.
“Album sales were steady and official merchandise sales rose steadily,” said Big Hit in a statement.
“Third quarter numbers were strong also due the acquisition of Pledis Entertainment.”
According to Kyunghyang, these preliminary results still have to be reviewed by external auditors and may change depending on the results.
In H1 2020 period, Big Hit generated revenues of 294bn South Korean Won ($249m) which was significantly up on the same period of last year (H1 2019), when the company posted half-year revenues of 200.1bn Won ($166m).
In 2019, Big Hit generated revenues of 587.2 billion South Korean won (over $500 million), which was up 95% year-on-year.
In a year marred by tour postponements due to the pandemic, Big Hit said that it’s loss in touring revenues in H1 2020 were more than offset by a combination of strong sales for albums, merchandise and tickets for ‘virtual concerts’.
Those virtual concerts included BTS’s BANG BANG CON The Live event which took place on June 14, and generated around $20m in sales alone.
In October, BTS drew nearly 1 million viewers to their two-day, live streamed ‘MAP OF THE SOUL ON:E’ event, which likely banked at least $35 million.
Music Business Worldwide
