I've been working for a while on this, I am posting most of the information at once, with some later adjustments.
It's related to BigHit's financial reports and BTS's contracts.
I've downloaded all reports from BigHit's official page. The korean DART site, the official site for financial reporting has an english version, but I couldn't find any reports in english, or any BTS filings.
BigHit is investing the revenue by using a tactic that is legal, but questionable, leaving a lot of money in the pockets of some people. Not BTS
The problem is in terms of the stock exchange, that it looks more like defrauding prospective investors, which is why, amongst other questionable factors, the South Korean commission has faced backlash amidst the collapsing BigHit stock so early after opening.
Other issues involving market manipulation to fake a “profitable” image, are BigHit’s acquisitions.
Pledis is a more or less broke company, with next to zero income except their main source being seventeen in 2018.
They also have been in the news for less favorable achievements:
https://www.koreaboo.com/news/pledis-ceo-accused-secretly-adding-wife-izone-albums-profit/
https://www.allkpop.com/forum/threads/wheres-pristin-pledis-finances.224841/
The last news regarding acquisitions was Zico’s KOZ entertainment, another company on paper generating nothing.
Zico left his company one year ago and formed his own company where he signed himself, hence a company only on paper.
On top of that Zico was at that time enlisted in the military.
The other “company” acquired is Source Music with one single girlband - GFriend.
They invest money looking like a money laundering scheme, by purchasing failed companies generating next to nothing for what it appears to be a large sum of money.
The difference between BigHit and the other big companies - SM, YG -who are active on the stock market, is that their IPO’s were created before they had any huge boom of a specific artist.
People really buy stock because of the companies, and their steadiness.
BigHit’s IPO not only lives on BTS, but it lives out of a momentary hype that was created around them, especially focused on their baby-clean image.
As opposed to other kpop singers/bands where despite high scandals or even medium ones, the company wasn’t depending on them, nor were all their public images groomed as “angelic”.
With BigHit so far, it looks like money laundering paired with cooking the books.
Rather than paying BTS, they use all this money for investments and more income from the IPO - not really sales from the other ventures/bands/companies - because as statistics are showing, BTS are still accounting for nearly...100% of BigHit’s revenue.
BTS might be the worst kpop band and idiots without a talent, but it should be their money, their billions. Not BigHit’s and the people around them.
Another Netmarble connection is related to MNet owned by CJ ENM, who owned 21,96% in Netmarble, also part of Samsung until the 1990s.
Talking about BTS being the underground dog ... from a company whose quarter of shares belonged to MNet who had all interest in promoting BTS...
Worrisome in relation to some of the scandals related to tiktok and other similar apps belonging to China, is the fact that since the beginning, one of BigHit's investors has been a Chinese company:
LB Global-China Expansion Fund
https://www.qixin.com/shareholder/4c4220476c6f62616c2d4368696e6120457870616e73696f6e2046756e64/
(After releasing this analysis, the company placed the link behind a wall)
holding 10% of BigHit
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At the beginning, BTS claimed to have received each 1,4%.
The 1.4% of BTS has been meanwhile verified. This means each member only had, at that time, 0.2% of the company while having all assets tied up in something worth less to nothing.
I have doubts, whether the declared 1.4% are really only BTS, meaning each member only holds 0.2% in the company while having all assets tied up in something worth less to nothing.
I believe BTS owned less than 1.4% total because it was made public that BigHit gave a small number of shares to all employees. THIS is what the total of 1.4% accounts for.
Maybe Bang only gave 0.1$ to each member and the rest of 0.7$ to the rest of the employees.
https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/big-hit-ipo-immediate-real-world-float-index-float-for-kospi-200
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Financial reports for 2016 through 2019. Although 2018 and 2019 aren't as detailed as 2016 and 2017.
One of the things that can be observed here is that the more gross profit BigHit made, the more expenses, and less profit percentage-wise.
At this point, I am pointing out some of my suspicions, of BigHit declaring false expenses in return for a bigger profit than declared for the following reasons:
- lesser taxes
- smaller cut for BTS (who gets paid like everyone else after all expenses have been covered
- investors are more interested in the gross profit. Whatever “expenses” the company has, due to known practices used by many, that’s on the company, not the investor. Well. Until the company goes bankrupt.
The way declaring higher expenses, for a profit in the end, works, can be given in some simple examples:
If I were to purchase an item for professional/company reasons, the costs would be deducted from my yearly filing. The same goes for professional trips, wardrobe, etc.
Many people have deals with sellers like - Hey, make me a higher receipt and I am bulk purchasing from you in the future, also we can split some of the profit.
All trips of staff members traveling with BTS fall in the same big “expenses” category.
I’ve posted about scandals over the past years, of staff members having their girlfriends using BTS‘s private vans, especially the caravans of staff members traveling with BTS which is unjustified.
I understand 7 stylists for each member.
But they seem to travel with at least 30 people, even if it is for one interview.
Not to mention staff members also use BTS’s private jet. On BTS’s costs.
The cost of renting a private jet depends on the size and how many passengers travel - a smaller jet for 8 people is significantly cheaper than a larger one.
The ratio of flying public airplanes, business vs economy is usually between 10-15 more expensive in business vs economy.
They will for sure have at least a few staff members present with them in business.
Not to mention for the 100th time the observation of the female staffers being real stalkers working for free willing to sign a false paper saying they get paid in return for being near BTS.
Maybe not all of them, but for sure the majority while wearing Chanel and Louis Vuitton outfits.
The fact that BigHit made a profit of between 48-67% from royalty and cd sales is proof that BTS, in best case scenario, get something around 4% to 5% on the total earnings
BigHit’s profit from those categories means what they keep in their pockets after paying everything, including BTS.
To give an example on a smaller scale - the best year of my earnings was when I made a profit of 34%, under the circumstances that I designed and shot my own booklet. No extra fees for producer, IT, or assistant. Nothing. I also did my own choreography and got additional copyright fees from that as well.
The irony is - I could have generated a higher profit ratio/wise if I had had higher sales numbers, because, the more you sell, the lesser the production costs percentage-wise. No matter if it’s a CD, or gadgets made in China - remember the poor quality of their products.
This been taken into consideration, for BigHit to keep a profit of 49% after paying at least 40-45% of declared expenses (not real ones, later to this issue), means there’s a margin of 5-6% left for BTS who has to be divided by 7 and who knows if the division falls equally. I doubt it.
If true, this margin of 5-6% makes them the worst-paid K-pop band with the worst contract.
Which has been rumored to be the case long before the renewal of their contract.
BigHit took 67% of royalties from advertising and commercial, TV, etc.
From the total of 100%, about 20% goes out to the CF agent, so even if BigHit doesn't use other excuses to pay other parties, involved, although this is always the case, best case scenario, BTS is left with 13% to be divided.
If BTS had taken the rest of 40%, they would have been billionaires by now. Like Bang Si-Hyuk, apparently declared as the 6th richest person in South Korea.
SM makes a 30/70 share division with the artist.
BTS members might be registered with komca as songwriters/producers, like everyone else. But it’s still BigHit/Bang cashing in the royalties.
Under royalties everything else falls, such as royalties from all the brands, logo, quotes (I purple you) BigHit registered as a patent. Meaning - obviously it’s BigHit receiving the royalties.
I can imagine the rest of 13% being divided between BTS, Netmarble and the rest of the silent investors.
Given their statements, it is obvious that BigHit makes most of the revenue out of product sales
It is public knowledge that TVXQ's contract was 70 for them 30 for the rest, apparently before expenses, which is huge.
https://www.allkpop.com/forum/threa...tails-revealed-no-slave-contract-drama.60774/
https://www.tvxqtoday.com/threads/official-tvxq-東方神起-동방신기-dbsk-tohoshinki-thread.10/page-1829
No wonder that Kim Jae Joong is one of the richest singers in South Korea.
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/styl...e-joong-k-pops-richest-idol-how-does-he-spend
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Under “expenses”, which BigHit deducts from the total that has to be paid to BTS and can be excluded from taxes, the following categories are included:
Packaging
Writers/Producers
This is where we come to several tricks used by companies, which I presume BigHit is using.
All writers and producers are BigHit employees who work on a salary and not revenue.
It’s standard unless you’re someone famous or an occasional writer.
BigHit’s deductibles already include employees's salary, but they can also deduct it for this category for taxing purposes, by using tricks.
They definitely can use it in order to pay BTS less.
While they filled a 49% in 2017 net profit after deductibles/expenses, they actually made at least 30% more profit than declared.
From the remaining 20%, they did had some real costs like packaging, which is cheap,
Or maybe they have their own pressing factory to get off cheaper, although their SONY (and txt’s Universal) contract, seem to be more a distribution contract, meaning they’re pressing and delivering the cd’s within Europe and USA.
Below a calculation on pressing CD's using the most common rate in the USA.
By using different techniques, they pay less taxes and also pay BTS less money.
Another trick used by labels is charging the artist for expenses from broken merchandise, special cheaper offers, insurance, and all sorts of fees, such as BigHit hiring lawyers to discuss their distribution deal with Sony.
BigHit is selling on their webpage the new album for $51 in addition to $16 for shipping costs (I tried New York and Texas), although they end up paying a standard fee to USPS so the shipping costs a customer pays end up in BigHit’s pocket.
51+16= $67
In Europe, the prices range from $67-$105 WITHOUT shipping. That is to be calculated extra.
If I were to take the 100 as a mid number (because 105 does not include about $20 shipping costs) and multiply with 2.300.000 which is what they sold until now approx
https://www.soompi.com/article/1440669wpp/bts-achieves-impressive-1st-week-sales-with-be
it gives a total of $2,274,882 in earnings within one week.
The usual rate for 5000 + cd’s is around 0.25.
I estimate something around 0.15-0.20 for more than 5000.
I’m gonna take 0.18 * 2.274.882 = 409,478,76 on printing fees. But could be less.
2,274,882 - 409,478,76 = 1,865,403.24 net profit
That’s the real net profit BigHit has made after one week of sale.
Consider what I’ve mentioned before, regarding BigHit declaring less profit and more expenses in order to actually cash more in, because despite their total sales in 2017 and 2018 which were obviously much higher than one week of album sale limited on one single album, BigHit reported a total of $74,088,770.36 revenue from product sale.
How could that be, if only the CD sales alone were an estimated
According to
this article, BTS sold 2,353,106 copies in 2018, with an average price of at least $40, giving approx $94,124,240 in sales, minus 423,559.08 printing = $93,700,680.92 , without any money in the pocket for shipping costs.
Yet BigHit declared a profit of only about $74, including all products sold.
Not to forget - the “product sales” category includes everything, not just CD sales which is only a small percentage of BigHit’s revenue.
In addition to the 2.300.000 copies, they sold 20.32 million cds so far.
That makes around 1-2 billions from cd sales alone.
I don’t see those numbers registered in BigHit’s filling not even as a gross profit (before expenses).
https://entertain.v.daum.net/v/20200409111755437
In "investigating" terms related to entertainment, I have the advantage of having inside information as someone being part of it, the disadvantage related to BTS of not speaking Korean and most of the "hot" business information being only available for Korean speakers. This is unfortunate because the only importance of BTS is the one of being used as a tool for BigHit's businesses.
I have found this blogger who seems to know Korean explaining some of the tricks BigHit is using, which I know for a fact that many outside Asia are familiar with methods. Unfortunately due to the language barrier and interest in BTS, there is no mention about it.
BigHit is investing the revenue by using a tactic known here as being tactical similar to a somehow legal tax-evasion system.
The problem is in terms of stock exchange, that it looks more like defrauding prospective investors, which is why, amongst other questionable factors, the South Korean commission has faced backlash amidst the collapsing BigHit stock so early after opening.
The blogger talks about how miserable low BTS were paid based on note 24 of the document, which is what I've always pointed out to, knowing how bad recording contracts can be.
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Don’t be fooled about BTS having had their “vacation” time.
They were filmed and logged all their activities with BigHit’s crew.
Many of the recordings we see now were filmed during their “break”.
What some people interpret as Taehyung throwing the “devil’s” sign - I see a lot of jackasses wanna be cool hipsters doing the same thing because they think it looks cool.
As far as finding anything related to BTS in general - next to impossible as South Korean law criminalizes negative comments.
Even for journalists, it’s nearly impossible to criticize anything without having solid proof.
It’s not enough to say BigHit is cooking the books, you have to prove it and even if I, or others in the business understand the shady tactics and inflating numbers, I’ve seen BigHit getting away with lots of things deemed to be illegal without any article about it.
From suing children or putting young people in jail, up to not being penalized or even prosecuted for illegal chart manipulation. Instead, the person blackmailing BigHit was the only one who went to jail for years.
I am not talking about one-time cases. Think about how many articles appeared in the past years about BigHit taking legal steps against some stupid comments and I wonder how many others went unobserved.
The ones published were used as a tactic to scare and warn others from speaking. Especially around the IPO announcement and always before and during a US tour.
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Bang Si-Hyuk's problem has always been the one that the company, BigHit is not a company per se. It's not a label, management, or a company creating web platforms such as weverse, or computer games. It's a company whose income is only related to the BTS earnings. A tricky situation and a dangerous one for all members, without including the Freemasonry issue.
From a business perspective.
He knew that he only has a limited amount of time to suck out the most possible out of the 7 people involved, enough to have material (DVD, audio, games, etc) even if the band disbands/members dies/etc).
He pushed it through with his IPO intentions to get to even more cash flow but now the problem has surfaced for the possible investors. Without BTS there is no income.
Without touring, public appearances, postings, or dangerous non-private airport appearances to generate traffic.
There is no big disadvantage to staying private as a company. A few of the biggest companies in the world are not trading publicly, staying private.
The huge advantage in a positive scenario for a company going public (IPO) is that it generates automatically huge money. It gives Bang Si-Hyuk access to a lot of money.
He probably thought that he hit the jackpot when they all decided to renew their contracts, pushing it towards their big "last tour" before Jin enrolls and using it as a way to get his dirty hands to more money through the IPO.
Now, his big plan failed due to Corona and due to the fact that...you don't put the lives of 7 people in danger, abuse them, not allow them to have a personal life without cameras following them around so that you can make money over money over money.
Given the members' desperation for attention, I bet the "babies" will ruin themselves in order to cover for the huge losses BigHit Bang Si-Hyuk Lenzo Yoon Hybe are hiding.
Rebranding, using different names, purchasing a bunch of companies and pouring BTS"s money into everything they find pink and cute, is only working, as long as they pump the members with their own specific vices, especially Jungkook, since no one cares about the rest.
The "ALL THE SEVEN" tactic, is only there to sell more, but the reality is, that they ar nothing without Jungkook, who, one year from now, going this road of drugs and alcohol, won't be...available anymore.
He's already mentally and physically somewhere else and not just his physique, but especially his face are unrecognizable.
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They tried with TXT and failed. They pushed them all over the awards show, forcing shows to give them big awards, having BTS promote them, and going so far as to list Taehyung as one of their "managers" in order to attract the attention of the fans. Their failure was silently covered.
I doubt they will ever go down unless BigHit and Bang Si-Hyuk are exposed, or some members (one will not be enough) decide to wake up and leave the band.
The IPO issue is just a bump in the road. They are still making profits, their fans today made efforts to buy older CD's and stream older music to keep the headlines active.
It's all a media trick to influence the brain. BTS is all over the place in America, but not so much in Europe. If you have all leftist media and gay journalists writing articles about them almost daily, when you have their image in your brain on every station, flyer, and banner, you automatically form a connection similar to an addiction making it difficult to not like the music or not be more attracted to what they do compared with other boybands.
I find EXO much better, yet they look less gay and were less promoted in the US.
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3 things about this article:
It talks about some irregularities in BigHit’s filling;
It points out once again that BigHit depends on BTS, which translates that you invest and take the risk investing money into some confused boys, who today are pills addicted, tomorrow it’s drugs. The article points out to so many scandals “idols” have had, like the recent rape and jail sentences involving some of their singers;
The most important thing, exposing their lies for that past year, including the members lying, especially Jin - apparently Bang Si-Hyuk already made it part of its regulatory filing that the 18-month national service of Jin could be postponed until the end of 2021.
This proves the whole fake views on YoutTube and the exaggeration over their Billboard nothing No 1.
As well as the insane greediness of the people involved with BTS/BigHit/Bang Si-Hyuk/Lenzo. Because the second problem besides the risk, is the fact that they are asking too much. They are asking a price higher than all other companies combined, so high that what they’re asking is FIVE TIMES MORE than the price of Samsung.
www.ft.com
BTS backer’s $3.9bn IPO hits wrong note for some analysts
in SeoulSeptember 3, 2020 11:01 pm
An initial public offering from Big Hit Entertainment — valuing the group behind K-pop superstars BTS at almost $4bn — has sparked criticism from analysts who say the price is too high given mounting risks facing South Korea’s entertainment industry.
The Seoul-based music agency, which formed the seven-member boy band a decade ago, wants to raise up to Won963bn ($809m) by listing 21 per cent of the company on the South Korean stock exchange, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
The IPO is set to be South Korea’s biggest in three years and the implied market capitalisation of $3.9bn, at the top end of the pricing range, would make Big Hit more valuable than the country’s three largest listed music agencies combined.
The listing comes against a backdrop of unprecedented popularity in South Korean pop music, largely spearheaded by the huge global fan base of the world’s biggest boy band, BTS. The group’s first English language release, “Dynamite”, last month became the first South Korean song to top the US Billboard Hot 100.
However, the IPO pricing implies that Big Hit will start trading at 76 times its projected earnings for 2020 — roughly double the 30 to 40 range of its main domestic rivals and five times that of Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s biggest company and the world’s biggest maker of computer chips and smartphones.
“The price range looks expensive relative to its earnings and compared with its rivals,” said Lee Jin-man, an analyst at SK Securities.
Big Hit’s revenue nearly doubled to $500m last year, on the back of sellout global tours by BTS and the boy band’s rapidly expanding fan base. The company touted new income streams through emerging acts, and language learning platforms and gaming products.
But Big Hit’s profits in the first half of 2020 slipped 4 per cent to $42m as the coronavirus pandemic forced BTS to cancel tours, underscoring the company’s heavy dependence on the band.
Sung Mi-kyung, a researcher at Korea Creative Content Agency, said that while the K-pop industry was adapting to restrictions on international travel and large public events such as concerts with a surge in online content, coronavirus was “putting the brakes on”.
“It is very important for artists to communicate and unite with their fans through concerts in order to expand their fan bases . . . they can’t do this at the moment, which poses a risk for the growth of the K-pop industry,” she said.
One investment manager at a US hedge fund noted that the music industry was now seen as a key growth driver for the South Korean equity market, the fifth biggest by capitalization in Asia. But he queried the prices attached to such stocks.
“For example, [Big Hit’s] dependence on BTS is too high while singers’ deviant private behaviours pose investment risks in the sector,” said the investor, referring to scandals in 2019 that led to two other K-pop celebrities being jailed for rape and a short-term hit to stock prices across the industry.
Mandatory conscription to the South Korean military also looms as a problem for BTS — though Big Hit noted in its regulatory filing that the 18-month national service of its oldest member, Jin, could be postponed until the end of 2021.
Still, the listing is expected to deliver a windfall to Big Hit’s founder and biggest shareholder Bang Si-hyuk and the seven BTS members — also known as the Bangtan Boys. Mr Bang, who owns 43 per cent of the group, has given each of the stars 68,385 shares, worth Won9.2bn at the top of the IPO price range of Won105,000 to Won135,000.
Mr Lee of SK Securities said the expensive IPO price also highlighted a broader shift under way in South Korean stock markets from traditional hardware manufacturers producing computer chips, ships and cars to “content creators” such as entertainment companies and games makers.
Additional reporting by Kang Buseong and Edward White
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Don't forget - BTS were forced to keep their shares for two years locked into the IPO. Bang Si-Hyuk and his lawyers made sure that the little monkeys BTS are made aware of the fact, that their smallest mistake would crash the company and the investor's money.
WAY TO GO, Freemasons ! Gay Pedophiles and desperate BTS members.
All the screaming means nothing. 5 years from now, some AI would have more success than anyone else.
Bot's prediction. I said it. 
www.bangkokpost.com
m-en.yna.co.kr
www.reuters.com
www.newsweek.com
