Lee Jaesang Nominee Played a Central Role in Business Strategy and Investment
"The Right Person to Lead the New Corporate Strategy 'HYBE 2.0'"
Representative Park Jiwon Expected to Stay with the Company to Carry Out New Missions
HYBE is making a sudden leadership change. Park Ji-won, who has led HYBE for the past three years, is stepping down, and Lee Jae-sang, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), will take over the baton.
HYBE announced on the 24th that Lee Jae-sang, CSO, has been nominated as the new CEO. He is scheduled to be officially appointed as CEO after a shareholders' meeting and board resolution.
HYBE has nominated Lee CSO as the right person to lead the upcoming corporate strategy "HYBE 2.0," which will be unveiled soon, and has been conducting a leadership transition project since early this year.
After graduating from Yonsei University, Lee joined global management consulting firm Monitor Group, Hyundai Motor Company, and Google before joining Big Hit Entertainment, the predecessor of HYBE, in 2018.
Since then, he has served as Big Hit Entertainment's CIGO (Chief Innovation Growth Officer), HYBE CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), HYBE America COO (Chief Operating Officer), and HYBE America CEO, playing a pivotal role in HYBE's business strategy and overall investments.
He played a leading role in designing and establishing HYBE's three major business strategy structures: "Label, Solution, Platform," and led major domestic label and technology company mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as well as HYBE's initial public offering (IPO) process.
HYBE stated, "Lee Jae-sang, the nominated CEO, is an entertainment industry expert with extensive experience in strategy formulation and operations both domestically and internationally. We expect him to demonstrate his capabilities to help HYBE grow into an advanced entertainment lifestyle platform company based on music and technology."
Park, who has led the company so far, decided to resign as CEO, believing that the full-scale expansion of HYBE's global business and new growth strategies should be promoted under new leadership.
In a statement released on the same day, Park said, "HYBE has been contemplating growth strategies for the next five years with a sense of responsibility and urgency," adding, "The growth strategy and corresponding execution plans were somewhat finalized earlier this year, and the leadership change at HYBE was one part of that."
He praised the nominee, saying, "He is the right person to inherit HYBE's vision, mission, and core values and effectively execute HYBE's mid- to long-term growth strategy based on domestic and international business networks," and added, "I sincerely support the new leadership and new changes."
Although Park is stepping down from his position, he is not leaving HYBE. He stated, "I will continue to contribute as a member of HYBE in areas where I can utilize my expertise and network for HYBE's future."
Park served as CEO of Nexon Korea from 2014 and as Nexon Global COO from 2018 before joining HYBE in May 2020. He became CEO in July 2021 and during his tenure, doubled HYBE's consolidated revenue and operating profit. He is recognized as a CEO who led achievements such as HYBE becoming the first in the entertainment industry to surpass 2 trillion won in revenue, laying the foundation for a multi-label system and global business expansion.
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