It's been revealed that HYBE Labels, currently involved in an internal dispute with its subsidiary label ADOR, also replaced the executive board at another of its subsidiaries, KOZ Entertainment, at the end of last year.
Insider reports on May 23 KST revealed that the majority of board members at KOZ, including CEO 'A', was replaced at the end of last year due to "poor sales". In 2023, KOZ Entertainment's yearly sales amounted to 19.4 billion KRW (~ $14.2 million USD), the lowest sales recorded by a HYBE subsidiary that year. Notably, CEO 'A' is known to be an entertainment industry veteran who has worked with Zico, the founder of KOZ Entertainment, for over 10 years. After leaving KOZ, it is believed that 'A' went on to establish the company GRIFFIN Entertainment, managing SHINee member Onew's solo activities.
Meanwhile, KOZ Entertainment was founded by musician Zico in November of 2018, before it was bought out by HYBE in November of 2020. The label manages Zico and boy group BOYNEXTDOOR.
In light of the ongoing internal dispute between the parent company HYBE and the subsidiary ADOR, CEO Park Ji Won of HYBE Labels commented, "We ran into a roadblock while pioneering the new multi-label system. We will persist in correcting what needs to be correcting for the system's improvement."
SEE ALSO: Yoon Jong Shin departs South Korea, reflects on burnout and personal growth
SHARE
WTF! Boynextdoor is the most independent group from HYBE writing and producing their own music and actually they can actually sing live. They are nowhere near NewJeans level of sales but they almost sold 1M albums last year which is great for a rookie group. I don’t know exactly what HYBE’s measure of success is but not every new company will produce groups that are instant hit.
2 more replies