As it has been revealed that the video of 'BTS Festa Dinner' was filmed about three weeks before it was released to the public, there have been voices criticizing how HYBE has handled the situation. Many are criticizing that HYBE had not accounted for the investor protection when the company knew about the important announcement, such as the group's hiatus beforehand. Additionally, HYBE is also being criticized for making such an important announcement through YouTube and didn't take measures against the effect the announcement will make even if it had three weeks of time.
BTS made an announcement on June 14 KST through their official YouTube channel BANGTANTV. In the video, BTS revealed that the group will enter a hiatus for the first time in nine years, and the members will concentrate on individual activities. Although the video was released in June, in the video, SUGA said, "When this video is released, we would have already been to the White House and back." He was referring to their visit to the White House that took place on May 29.
This means that the members had recorded the 'Festa Dinner' before the White House visitation. Also, according to the members' personal social media posts, it was speculated that the BTS members had the 'Festa Dinner' around May 20 or the 21st. Hence, the members had already made the decision on their hiatus three weeks prior.
Even before the video was released, the company's agency HYBE's stock price dropped in the aftermath of the US stock market woes. With BTS's hiatus news, HYBE's stock prices had taken a direct hit. The day after the video was released, the stock price of HYBE plummeted by 24.87%, and the market cap decreased by nearly 2 trillion KRW (1.5 Billion USD).
Therefore, investors are criticizing HYBE for the way they handled the situation. The investors are asking whether it was correct for HYBE to reveal such an important announcement that heavily affected stock prices just through a video and not take any preventative measures in preparation for it.
After the broadcast, HYBE stated that BTS is not considering disbandment and are expanding the scope of activities by adding individual activities. Nevertheless, the HYBE stock prices continue to decrease after the group's hiatus announcement.
Netizens have mixed opinions on this matter as they commented, "To be honest, the investors should have known that it's time for the members to enlist anyway," "That's why I was against HYBE going public, they're too tied to stock price, they should've just stayed private," "BTS became a slave to this stock market," "BTS didn't say they were going to disband," "HYBE executives who knew that the stocks will plummet probably sold all their stocks before the video was uploaded," "Seems like some people sold all their stocks over the three weeks before the video was uploaded," "This reminds me of Luna coin, lol," and "I really dislike what HYBE is doing."
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From the content of the FESTA dinner, it seemed like they made the decision to do solo activities long, long before this album release because every member had been preparing a solo album, some already locked and loaded (J-HOPE), others in the process (Jimin and V; V's tentatively for next year), others on the way (presumably, RM, Suga, and JK), and others scheduled for last but with songs already (Jin). The investors seem to have no confidence that individual efforts would match the profits from group promotions. Nevertheless, BTS' health and wellness come first, so everyone just deal with it. Guilt tripping the members won't do anything when they've already informed the fans of their real feelings.
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