HYBE shares fall after NewJeans demand Min's reinstatement

HYBE Co. has suffered a fall of its share price for two consecutive days after its popular girl group NewJeans demanded their former creative director Min Hee-jin be reinstated as CEO of their label ADOR. 

This marks the first time the five-member band made their voice heard about the months-long feud between the K-pop powerhouse and its label ADOR, which could continue to haunt the company, also behind global sensation boy band BTS.

HYBE's share price fell nearly 3% to close at 164,000 won ($123.4) on Friday. It has lost 5.7% in two trading days as of Friday's close, reversing the 2.5% advance in the broader Kospi index.

In a livestream on Youtube on Wednesday, all five members of NewJeans said they wanted Min reinstated as ADOR CEO and their creative director. They asked HYBE founder and Chairman Bang Si-hyuk to bring ADOR back to where it was by Sept. 25.

"I never want to conform to, go along with or follow them . . . I will never choose to go in the direction (of ADOR's new management),” Hyein said in the broadcast.

She was joined by four other NewJeans members — Minji, Hanni, Danielle and Haerin — in the livestream. HYBE did not comment.

In late August, ADOR’s board of directors replaced her with HYBE’s chief human resources officer Kim Ju-young. After her dismissal, Min has stayed on the board as an in-house but her term ends on Nov. 2.

In a a renewed attempt to take over as ADOR chief, Min on Friday filed an injunction with the Seoul Central District Court to allow her to convene an extraordinary shareholder meeting of ADOR and to call for reelection of its inside directors.

HYBE is ADOR’s largest shareholder with an 80% stake.

In the legal fight, Min is seeking to extend her three-year term as ADOR’s in-house director. She is preparing another legal action against HYBE to nullify the decision by ADOR’s board of directors last month to sack her and appoint her replacement.

Min has accused HYBE of violating a shareholders’ contract, which is supposed to allow her to serve as ADOR CEO until November 2026.

Their disputes date back to April this year, after HYBE announced a plan to fire Min, accusing her of breach of trust. It said she had attempted a coup to take over ADOR with outside investors. But she has ardently refuted the allegations.

HYBE controls multiple music labels, including ADOR and Big Hit, which is behind BTS.

In the second quarter that ended on June 30, HYBE’s net profit nosedived to 10.1 billion won ($7.6 billion), less than one-tenth of the 117.4 billion won in the year prior.

It attributed the profit fall to BTS's hiatus due to their mandatory military service.

Write to Da Eun Choi at max@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article