"Driving HYBE's future": Fans react as K-Media highlights Jungkook's impact on HYBE’s operational profit of $71.2 million in Q4 of 2023

Big Data News named BTS Jungkook as one of the primary contributors to improving HYBE's operational profit by 86% in the fourth quarter of 2023. On February 15, 2024, KB Securities reduced the target stock price for HYBE from 330,000 won ($247.92) to 300,000 won ($225.38), stating that operational profit will be lower than previously estimated owing to a change in strategy caused by the artist's absence.

According to researcher Lee Seon-hwa, HYBE's operational profit in the fourth quarter of last year was KRW 94.9 billion ($71.3 million), representing an 86% rise over the same period last year and the strongest quarterly performance ever.

Fans were astounded to learn about the massive increase in operational profit and praised Jungkook as the artist leading "HYBE's future."

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"HYBE's highest income generator": Fans laud Jungkook as the most successful soloist

As reported by Big Data News, according to researcher Lee Seon-hwa, despite current concerns about album sales topping out, musicians signed by HYBE have continuously enjoyed initial sales growth with each new album.

For the uninitiated, album sales topping out refers to albums peaking on the sales charts and then sales slowing down. This has arisen as a risk issue in the entertainment sector, and with BTS serving their mandatory enlistment, investors had expressed concerns before.

Jungkook dropped his debut solo album GOLDEN in the last quarter of 2023, and it climbed to the top of the iTunes and Billboard charts within a few hours of its release. The full-length album includes 11 tracks, leading Jungkook to win big awards such as the Billboards Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and MTV Europe Music Awards in 2023. The album sold over 2 million copies on Hanteo on its first release day.

Seven (feat. Latto) from the solo album amassed over 1.3 billion streams on Spotify. Subsequently, the singer held an On Stage GOLDEN Live concert for two hours and multiple stage performances in the United States and Japan. Hence, these activities influenced the significant increase in operating profit for HYBE in the last quarter of 2023.8+

Meanwhile, fans took to X to laud BTS' Jungkook and his global influence and wrote, "hope he gets a bonus."

On November 2, 2023, Chosun Biz reported that HYBE stated that it achieved combined sales of 537.9 billion won ($404 million) and a net operating profit of 72.7 billion won ($54.6 million) in the year's third quarter. Sales grew by 21% over the same time in 2022, with J-Hope's Jack In The Box release and his Lollapalooza performance contributing to the mix, while operational earnings jumped by 20%.

BTS Taehyung, aka V's solo album launch Layover, sold 2.1 million copies in its first week since its release on September 8, 2023, serving as the first solo artist in Korea to sell more than 2 million copies in a single week. Jungkook's digital song Seven remained on the Billboard Hot 100 list for 13 weeks in a row, while his digital single 3D peaked at fifth.

Later, with the release of GOLDEN, Jungkook claimed the title from Taehyung of being the first artist to sell over 2.6 million album copies on Hanteo in the first week of its release. Meanwhile, 2023 revenue is the strongest third-quarter result for HYBE since its establishment.

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Furthermore, the strong sales of new albums by SEVENTEEN, NewJeans, and ENHYPEN also contributed to HYBE's most significant quarterly album sales.