[theqoo] BAEKHYUN, TAEMIN AND THE BOYZ, 1 BILLION WON EACH... CHA GA-WON SQUEEZES SINGERS, '5 BILLION WON UNPAID'

(T/N: 1 billion won = ~692K USD)

Cha Ga-won, CEO of One Hundred, has allegedly run his company in an abnormal manner, ultimately leading to unpaid settlements for artists under the label, including Baekhyun, Taemin, and The Boyz. The total amount runs into tens of billions of won.

According to The Fact, The Boyz, who are under One Hundred, are currently owed about 1 billion won in unpaid settlements. Baekhyun, who belongs to subsidiary label INB100, is also owed around 1 billion won, while Chen and Xiumin are each owed amounts in the hundreds of millions of won. Taemin (SHINee), who is under another subsidiary label Big Planet Made, is reportedly owed well over 1 billion won as well.

Previously, The Fact reported on Cha Ga-won’s irrational and suspicious company management practices (Exclusive: “108 Billion Won in Costume Expenses, 72 Billion Won in Advances”… Cha Ga-won’s ‘Abnormal Company Management’), raising concerns about whether artists would be able to promote stably and receive proper compensation. Those concerns have already become reality, with the total unpaid settlements to artists estimated at around 5 billion won.

This situation had been foreseen early on. According to Big Planet Made’s 2024 audited financial statements registered on May 30 last year, the company was in a state of complete capital impairment, with liabilities (approximately 53.2 billion won) exceeding assets (approximately 34.2 billion won) by about 18 billion won. INB100 was in slightly better shape, but still had almost no remaining funds. This situation did not improve in 2025 and instead worsened.

Cha Ga-won is the largest shareholder of One Hundred as well as Big Planet Made. One Hundred is also the largest shareholder of INB100. In effect, all of these companies are controlled by Cha Ga-won, CEO of One Hundred. These companies survived on advance payments (money received in advance for concerts, albums, etc.) and various appearance and performance fees, but even that became difficult starting in the second half of 2025.

As a result, by the fourth quarter of last year, talk of unpaid settlements for artists under One Hundred’s subsidiaries had already begun circulating among industry insiders. Some artists reportedly met with trusted industry professionals they had long relationships with to discuss concerns about unpaid settlements and future activities. According to these sources, the artists had not received settlements since the third quarter.

Taemin joined Big Planet Made in April 2024 and began a world tour in August, touring 29 regions worldwide until April 2025. While settlement schedules vary by contract, payments are usually made about three months later, suggesting that some of the tour revenue was not settled. Additionally, revenue from the Japan arena tour that ran from September to the end of last year has also reportedly not been settled.

INB100, founded by Baekhyun and later joined by Chen and Xiumin, was absorbed into One Hundred in May 2024. Baekhyun immediately embarked on a world tour, holding concerts in 28 cities worldwide starting in Seoul in June last year, with encore concerts scheduled from the 2nd to the 4th at KSPO Dome in Seoul. Despite being extremely active, he has reportedly not been paid money owed since the second half of 2025.

The situation is not much different for Chen, Xiumin, and The Boyz. Although Cha Ga-won reportedly received large advance payments by leveraging the artists’ IPs and the artists worked intensively, the company’s cash reserves were depleted due to irrational spending such as approximately 10.8 billion won spent on costume expenses alone in 2024 (which Cha Ga-won’s side claimed was a misclassification of production costs), leaving little room for improvement.

Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin are in an even more difficult position. They are obligated to pay 10% of their individual activity revenue to SM Entertainment, but this has not been fulfilled. According to The Fact, SM Entertainment sent a formal notice to ChenBaekXi around the end of last year demanding payment of the 10% share. The problem is that INB100 has no money, and ChenBaekXi themselves are not even receiving proper settlements.

original post: here

1. The Boyzㅠㅠ

2. This was their own karmaㅎㅎ you guys better pay up what you owe already~

3. CBX did this to themselves.. SM better get those IP fees back

4. CBX did this to themselves so I don't feel particularly bad. Did The Boyz actually receive that 1.5 billion won contract fee? Does this mean they haven't been paid their activity expenses?

I actually wanted Taemin to keep working at SM too... but Taemin doesn't want to say anything

5. Just how did she even entice them to join her company?

6. Baekhyun and Taemin's album and promotion quality were so good and it looks like a lot of care went into them so I don't understand why they left... As for Chen...

7. CBX really shot themselves in the foot by leaving... The members were betrayed and n the end, they lost all 12 rounds of their 12 battles

8. This is CBX's legendary karma

9. No but did they not know that this would happen?... I'm more shocked at how little they know about the entertainment world

10. I know that this company had a lot of money but turns out, they don't

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