Big Hit opens public subscription

Big Hit Entertainment, a label behind the South Korean boy band BTS, will open subscription for retail investors for two days on Monday and Tuesday. The IPO of the company is expected to make CEO Bang Si-hyuk the 14th richest stockholder in South Korea.

According to the financial investment industry on Sunday, Big Hit has set the price of its shares at 135,000 won, which was the top price in demand forecasting with institutional investors where it was subscribed 1,117 times.

Many are watching closely if BTS’s fandom “ARMY” would make the subscription a resounding success. BTS has 7.25 million subscribers on “Weverse,” a fan community application run by Big Hit, and ARMY has demonstrated its “economic power” by taking out large adverts or making donations on birthdays of BTS members.

Bang’s shares will be worth 1,670,9 trillion won when the company goes public in the securities market in the middle of the month, which, as of Tuesday, makes him the 14th richest shareholder in the country surpassing Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin, according to Chaebul.com.


zion37@donga.com