It’s a big news day for Big Hit Entertainment.
The K-Pop powerhouse behind BTS revealed earlier on Wednesday (January 27) that it’s investing 70 billion won (approximately $63m) in rival K-Pop company YG Entertainment.
Now, the company has revealed that it plans to strengthen its fan community platform business by joining forces with Korean tech and software company Naver.
Naver will invest approximately 354.8 billion won (approximately $321.6 million) in Big Hit subsidiary beNX through a third-party paid-in capital increase.
At the same time, beNX will acquire Naver’s V LIVE division. Plus, the Big Hit Entertainment board has voted to change the name of beNX to WEVERSE COMPANY Inc.
beNX is the Big Hit subsidiary that developed Big Hit’s popular direct-to-fan app platform, Weverse.
Big Hit and Naver plan to create a new global fan community platform that integrates the users, content and services of Weverse and V LIVE.
The strategy, according to a press release, is for Big Hit to lead the business as the largest shareholder, and Naver to “maximize synergy” between the two companies by focusing on technology capabilities.
Naver will acquire additional stakes in beNX with the funds made available through the transfer of V LIVE to become the second largest shareholder of beNX.
Naver will also “closely cooperate” with Big Hit and beNX to continue the global leadership in fan community platforms.
“The new global fan community platform will become an unrivalled player in the global entertainment market by adding K-content to the globally competitive K-technology.”
Naver
Naver said: “In order to expand influence in the global market, we need to go beyond competition between domestic platforms and closely cooperate between competitive platforms that can create synergy.”
“The new global fan community platform will become an unrivalled player in the global entertainment market by adding K-content to the globally competitive K-technology.”
“We look forward to the synergy between Weverse and V LIVE through a full-scale cooperation with Naver, through which we will reach an unrivaled position in the global market with our more advanced fan community platform.”
Big Hit
Big Hit added: “Since the launch of Weverse in 2019, we have witnessed the necessity and impact of fan community platforms in the global music market through Weverse’s exponential growth.”
“We look forward to the synergy between Weverse and V LIVE through a full-scale cooperation with Naver, through which we will reach an unrivaled position in the global market with our more advanced fan community platform.”
In November, we learned that Big Hit Entertainment was reportedly set to launch a joint venture company with Naver in the United States.
According to the Korea Times, Naver and Big Hit were planning to team up in the US to “run an entertainment business utilizing K-pop stars” that taps into the livestreaming expertise of both companies.Music Business Worldwide
