Up close and personal look at HYBE workplace, culture

The share price of South Korea’s HYBE Co., the company behind the global sensation BTS, has advanced more than 60% this year, hitting its highest point in more than a year in late June.

Despite its humble beginning as a small entertainment agency back in 2005, HYBE, formerly Big Hit Entertainment, has taken K-pop to the next level, leading the Hallyu, or the Korean wave in music, film and TV dramas.

CLOSE LOOK AT HYBE HEADQUARTERS

Located in central Seoul, HYBE’s headquarters became a must-visit place for BTS followers and fans of other HYBE artists such as girl groups NewJeans and Le Serrafim; and boy bands SEVENTEEN and Tomorrow X Together (TXT).

It recently opened up its offices to The Korea Economic Daily (KED). It is the first time for the entertainment giant to show its building from top to bottom to media.

HYBE hosts about 100 visitors per day on average at its headquarters, which occupies the entire 19 floors of the building, measuring 60,000 square meters in floor areas.

Of the seven underground parking floors, the first to three floors below ground are dedicated to its artists. The fourth underground floor is allowed for visitor vehicles.

In the lobby, HYBE employees go up to their office after verifying their IDs through facial recognition, or a mobile card.

Visitors are granted a temporary access card after their ID verification.

HIGH SECURITY

The first floor is comprised of a guest lounge and some 10 conference rooms with six to 10 seats each.

The conference rooms are open to visitors and need to be booked in advance on HYBE’s mobile app. Next to the rooms are a help desk and a healthcare room for HYBE employees.

The second to sixth floors are forbidden to outsiders. They encompass studios of music and video recording, choreographic practice and vocal training, as well as compartments for each label under HYBE as well as powder rooms.

Especially, it denied this newspaper access to the second to 15th floors, where its employees must scan their faces on every floor.

Office spaces are located on the seventh to 16th floors. They have movable walls, built on a mobile base with rails on the floor, to maximize the space efficiency.

LOUNGES

HYBE has lounges on six floors of the building, where its employees can chat and freely exchange their ideas.

The 14th-16th-floor lounges are equipped with music books, which the company hopes to ignite their artistic inspiration. The lounges on the eighth to 11th floors are filled with business books.

Particularly, the lounge on the 16th floor displays professional music and art books, as well as LP albums. A big monitor is mounted on every desk in the lounge. To use the desk, users must make a reservation through HYBE’s app.

With windows on all four walls, the 16th-floor lounge has a pantry with snacks and refreshments, along with individual storage and wardrobes.

Some props of music videos are on display. A skateboard etched witth the word “Antifragile” was also on display. Antifragile is the title track of Le Sserafim’s second mini album.

“These libraries were designed to boost inspiration and insight of our employees, expanding the horizons of their imagination,” said an HYBE official. The company calls the lounges libraries.

FITNESS CENTER, CAFETERIA

On the 11th to 13th floors is the fitness center, where HYBE employees can exercise free of charge. Training programs are available for a fee.

The 17th floor is dedicated exclusively to HYBE artists.

A 250-seat cafeteria on the 18th floor is operated by South Korea’s leading food company Pulmuone Corp. It opens between 11:30 am and 2 p.m. for lunch and between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. for dinner.

Its users can choose one of four main menus per meal, which are served for only 2,000 won ($1.5) for HYBE employees. They enjoy their food while listening to trendy music.

CAFES, OPEN GARDEN

On the top of the building, or the 19th floor, are located an auditorium named FORUM, the Fritz café and an outdoor garden COMB. The FORUM is a venue where HYBE Chief Executive Park JiWon communicates with its employees and shares company news. It is also used as a place for group workshops.

The Fritz café offfers coffee and teas at modest prices. An americano goes for 1,500 won and green tea for 2,000 won.

The outdoor garden COMB features about 200 birch trees, 6 meters long each. Decorated with colorful lights at night, it boasts views of both the Han River and Namsan Mountain. The river runs through Seoul and nearby provinces. Mt. Namsan is the tallest mountain in the capital city.

CASUAL LOOKS

One of the interesting things from a visitor's perspective is that none of HYBE's employees were in formal attire in the workplaces.

“Compared to large companies, we have a more comfortable working environment and more flexible working hours,” said a HYBE employee who recently moved to the company.

About 1,000 employees have joined HYBE in the past two years, in tandem with HYBE’s growth. They must be available to be reached for communication between 11 a.m.and 4 p.m. under any circumstances.

“We are the world's top entertainment lifestyle platform based on music,” said the HYBE official.

“The name of HYBE indicates connection, expansion and relationship. We designed our office with a focus on structure and function, rather than for interior decoration.”

BUSINESS PLANS

HYBE is on track to grow as a multi-label music company through a string of acquisitions and startup investments.

In 2021, it took over Ithaca Holdings, a US media company. Early this year, it acquired QC Media Holdings Co., a US-based hip-hop label.

“We are working on music and technology convergence to expand the boundaries of the music industry. It is now taking shape,” the HYBE official noted.

In 2021, HYBE launched a business solution unit HYBE IM. Last year, it set up a blockchain platform jointly with Dunamu Inc., which operates South Korea’s top cryptocurrency exchange Upbit.

Last December, it purchased an AI voice developer Supertone, while investing in a number of technology startups.

Thanks to the aggressive investments, HYBE’s operating profit trebled to 236.9 billion won in 2022, compared to 2018. Sales skyrocketed by nearly six-fold to 1.8 trillion won during the same period.

As of end-March, its cash and cash equivalents amounted to 438.7 billion won, with liquid assets of 2 trillion won.

HYBE founder and Chairman Bang Si-hyuk is the largest shareholder in the entertainment giant with a 31.58% stake. Gaming developer Netmarble Corp. is the No. 2 shareholder with an 18.08% stake.

South Korea’s National Pension Service and Dunamu rank third and fourth with a stake of 7.63% and 5.53%, respectively.

Foreign investors hold a combined 16.7% stake in HYBE, which has a market capitalization of 11.9 trillion won as of Tuesday.

SHAREHOLDER RETURNS

HYBE has pledged to return about 30% of its consolidated profits to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. On June 22, its share price rallied to 312,500 won, its strongest point since early April, 2022.

“After the introduction of the multi-label system, the artist's performances have accelerated HYBE’s growth,” said Samsung Securities analyst Choi Min-ha.

“It is impressive that after the border reopening, their world tours are getting bigger in scale and taking place in more places than before.

With Jin and J-HOPE serving in the Korean army, the seven-member boy band BTS has been on a one-year hiatus as a group.

But Jimin of BTS became the first South Korean solo act to hit No. 1 on Billboard's main singles chart Hot 100 with the title track “Like Crazy” from his debut album in April.

To sustain its growth momentum, HYBE is set to launch a subscription-based Weverse fan community in the current quarter, which Choi said would further lift HYBE’s profit margin.

The analyst forecast HYBE’s operating profit and revenue to rise 18% on-year to 280 billion won and 2.12 trillion won in 2023, respectively.

She also revised HYBE’s target price higher to 360,000 won for this year, about 30% above Tuesday’s closing level.

Write to Hyun-Ju Yoon at hyunju@hankyung.com


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.