According to regulatory filings, BTS members Jin, J-Hope, and RM recently unloaded nearly 32,000 shares of their management company HYBE’s stock, netting the trio a cool $8.4 million. The sale of 31,986 combined shares took place just ahead of the K-pop superstars’ string of sold-out “Permission to Dance on Stage” shows in Los Angeles and their artist of the year win at the recent American Music Awards, as first reported by Bloomberg.
The shares in the company formerly known as Big Hit were sold between October 13 and November 9, just before the stock in the Seoul-based company reached an all-time high on November 16, doubling its initial public offering price from October 2020.
According to Bloomberg, HYBE founder Bang Si-Hyuk gave the group’s seven members 478,695 shares — a 1.41 percent stake in the company now worth around $165 million — prior to the IPO.
The following is a breakdown of reported share sales: Jin, 16,000 shares valued at $4.1 million; J-Hope, 5,601 shares valued at $1.57 million; and RM, 10,385 shares valued at $2.75 million.
According to Hakyung Park of Korean Investment & Securities, HYBE posted a record third-quarter profit, with album sales increasing to 4.85 million units from 900,000 the previous year. The members of BTS, whose ages range from 24 to 28, may have been looking to make “as much money as possible” before their upcoming mandatory two-year military conscription begins; the group’s oldest member, Jin, who turns 29 on Saturday (Dec. 4), has been granted a military deference until late 2022.
Billboard reported in August that each member’s equity in HYBE was worth around 20 billion won ($17 million).
Furthermore, the Yonhap News Agency reported that all seven are expected to enter quarantine and miss the upcoming Mnet Asian Music Awards in Seoul on December 11 due to new restrictions imposed by their home country in the aftermath of the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. The group is scheduled to perform at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball show in Los Angeles on Friday (Dec. 3), then return to South Korea, where they will face a newly announced mandatory 10-day quarantine for all international travellers entering the country, regardless of vaccination status; South Korean citizens will be allowed to self-isolate at home.
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