[theqoo] HYBE PURCHASES COMPANY WORTH 72.8 BILLION WON FOR 1.2 TRILLION

It has been revealed that the actual assets of Ithaca Holdings, the U.S. company that HYBE acquired in 2021 for approximately 1.2 trillion won, amounted to only 72.8 billion won. Of the officially announced net assets of 200 billion won, 125 billion won consisted of “goodwill” whose substance was unclear. One of Ithaca’s key subsidiaries had zero revenue and net assets of just 11.5 million won.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that HYBE poured 33.5 billion won into the US PR firm “Tag PR,” which is suspected of having attacked former ADOR CEO Min Heejin, even though the company’s assets were only worth about 1 billion won. As the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) carried out a search and seizure at HYBE on December 18, HYBE has refused to respond to press inquiries.

33.5 billion won for a 1-billion-won company, without voting rights

Additional details have emerged about Tag PR, of which HYBE acquired a 51% stake on August 1, 2024. A detailed analysis of FSS electronic disclosures shows that the company’s total assets were only 1 billion won. Earlier reports had estimated its assets at 10.6 billion won, but a re-examination of disclosures confirmed the figure to be 1 billion won. HYBE invested USD 25 million into a company with just six employees, effectively valuing the entire company at around 70 billion won.

Another anomaly was found in HYBE’s business report. Despite acquiring a 51% stake, HYBE failed to secure a majority of the voting rights. The purpose of acquiring 51% is normally to gain management control, yet HYBE invested 33.5 billion won without voting rights, something virtually unheard of in a normal corporate acquisition.

As previously reported, Tag PR is notorious in Hollywood as a firm specializing in “reverse-viral” smear campaigns. According to a complaint filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, one of the seven victims of the company’s defamation campaigns was Min Heejin. Just one year after acquiring the company, HYBE disposed of its entire stake in the third quarter of 2025. The disclosed loss on disposal was 800 million won. It is estimated that a company purchased for 33.5 billion won was sold for about 3.8 billion won.

90,000 stock options the day after the NewJeans live broadcast

The timing of Tag PR’s full-scale operation is striking. On September 11, 2024, NewJeans held a live broadcast saying, “Stop har***ing Min Heejin.” The very next day, September 12, three things happened simultaneously:

- A Billboard reporter sent interview questions to Min Heejin.
- The CEO of Tag PR was replaced, from Park Ji-won to Lee Jae-sang.
- Stock options were granted to Scooter Braun.

The stock options granted to Scooter Braun amounted to 89,571 shares, six times more than the 15,000 shares granted to the new CEO, Lee Jae-sang. Scooter Braun had already sold Ithaca to HYBE in 2021 and served as CEO of HYBE America. Why would someone who had already sold his company and been paid receive far more stock options than the new CEO three years later? Suspicions have been raised that this was compensation for attacks on Min Heejin carried out via Tag PR.

Evidence of Tag PR’s attacks on Min Heejin, including conversations between a Billboard reporter and Min Heejin, a defamation website (minheejin.net), and X (Twitter) accounts disguised as belonging to SM Entertainment, has been reported in detail previously. The complaint also states that forensic analysis found these sites shared the same “digital fingerprint” as websites used to attack actress Blake Lively.

Actual assets only 72.8 billion won after excluding goodwill

A detailed analysis was conducted of HYBE’s acquisition of Ithaca Holdings. The total cost of the 2021 acquisition was approximately 1.1889 trillion won. At the time, HYBE stated that it had assigned 829.4 billion won as goodwill when acquiring a company with net assets of about 200 billion won, essentially paying nearly 900 billion won as a premium for future growth potential.

However, a closer look at disclosures revealed a different reality. Of the 197.9 billion won in net assets, goodwill accounted for 125.1 billion won. Goodwill represents an assessment of a company’s potential future growth, but it becomes worthless if performance falters. Excluding goodwill, the actual tangible assets were only 72.8 billion won.

In other words, a company worth 72.8 billion won was acquired for 1.2 trillion won. The premium was not the officially announced 829.4 billion won, but more than 1 trillion won. At the time of acquisition, Ithaca was in a state of capital impairment: its paid-in capital of 240 billion won had shrunk to 197.9 billion won. HYBE completed due diligence on such a company in just two months and bet more than 1 trillion won.

36.5 billion KRW in goodwill for a subsidiary with zero revenue

A significant portion of Ithaca’s 200 billion won in net assets came from two subsidiaries, NSN and AGRB. About 150 billion won was spent to acquire these two companies. The problem is that both were largely inflated with goodwill.

NSN’s net assets were 7.7 billion won, but its book value was 125 billion won (the difference of 117.2 billion won being goodwill. AGRB was even worse: its net assets were only 11.5 million won, yet its book value was 36.5 billion won) almost entirely goodwill. A company worth 11.5 million won was valued at 36.5 billion won. AGRB’s revenue in 2021 was zero; it generated no business activity and only consumed cash. Ultimately, the entire 36.5 billion won in goodwill was written down in 2022.

NSN is also in decline. While it recorded revenue of 37.9 billion won and operating profit of 11 billion won in 2022, in 2023 its revenue fell to 11.7 billion won with an operating loss of 2.4 billion won . In 2024, revenue dropped further to 5.3 billion won with an operating loss of 5.2 billion won. Accounting principles require full impairment of goodwill after two consecutive years of losses. However, HYBE impaired only 49.7 billion won in 2023 and 10 billion won in 2024, still retaining 75 billion won in goodwill. This raises suspicions of accounting manipulation.

Visiting HYBE headquarters, but met with silence

We sent direct inquiries to HYBE, requesting explanations via text messages and emails to Vice President of PR Park Tae-hee and CFO Lee Kyung-jun. Both read the messages but did not respond. We then visited HYBE’s headquarters in Yongsan.

Security personnel said, “Both are out on external business.” When told, “There are no external schedules listed,” they appeared flustered. The reporters said, “If you do not provide a rebuttal, we will consider it a waiver of your right to respond.” Still, there was no answer, and we had to leave empty-handed.

On December 18, the Financial Supervisory Service conducted a search and seizure at HYBE. It is unusual for the FSS to directly carry out compulsory investigations. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is currently investigating Chairman Bang Sihyuk on suspicion of fraudulent unfair trading involving approximately 400 billion won. The FSS stated that “there are additional matters that need to be examined beyond what has been identified in the police investigation.” Allegations such as accounting fraud in the Ithaca acquisition and possible overseas asset flight may be included in the probe.

There is no denying that Chairman Bang Sihyuk and HYBE have contributed to the global spread of K-pop. However, such contributions cannot excuse alleged disruptions to the capital market or suspicions of large-scale overseas asset transfers. HYBE must explain the true purpose of the 33.5 billion won investment in Tag PR, why Scooter Braun was granted six times more stock options than the new CEO, and on what basis more than a 1-trillion-won premium was paid for a company worth only 72.8 billion won.

Full article: https://newtamsa.org/news/WGkrXJ

Additional link (Tag PR / reverse-viral articles involving Min Heejin and US celebrities):
https://newtamsa.org/news/mugId1

original post: here

1. Who pocketed all this money in the end?

2. Where is all this money going to~~~~?

3. Just who is stealing all that money away?

4. HYBE needs to be stripped naked

5. HYBE needs to be investigated thoroughly

6. When will HYBE flop?

7. No matter what is said about HYBE, the maids will always focus on NewJeans-Min Heejin-NewJeans-Min Heejin

8. Just how much money did they take from my biases making them money? F*ck HYBE needs to flop

9. Those bad guys need to apologize for their internal documents and all head to jail. Apologize to my idols too