Big Hit Gets Hit Big

The company behind K-pop Sensation BTS is trying to keep Covid-19 from stopping the music

- GRACE CHUNG

This year was meant to be stellar for Seoul-based Big Hit Entertainment. Last year was its best ever, with record sales and profits and an IPO in the works. Then came Covid-19, and with it, the biggest challenge yet to face the company’s founder Bang Si-hyuk.

Big Hit’s rise is almost entirely due to the mega-success of its K-pop group BTS. In 2019, the seven-member act scored three No. 1 albums on the US Billboard 200—the first band to achieve that feat in a quarter of a century. Last July, BTS became Asia’s highest earning band before taxes on the Forbes Celebrity 100 (and the third-highest worldwide). The band’s eight-month Love Yourself World Tour, which ended in October, reportedly pulled in over $196 million.

But now the future of live events—a major revenue driver—is in limbo. As Forbes Asia went to print, all Big Hit concerts were being rescheduled, according to a company spokesperson, and the firm had also stopped selling tickets on its site. Those tickets already sold for Big Hit’s April concerts in South Korea have been refunded; the spokesperson says Big Hit is looking to secure new dates and venues.

“Big Hit’s business will see a huge impact due to the virus,” says analyst Yoo Sung-man of Hyundai Motor Securities. Last year, Big Hit earned $63 million on a record $507 million in revenue, up more than 160 percent since 2018. But Yoo has slashed his earlier forecast of $616 million revenue this year to a mere $277 million. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Yoo’s downgrade.