[News Figures] Is the Hive Internal Conflict Ending? CEO Jaesang Lee's Message Draws Attention

As the internal strife at HYBE prolonged, CEO Jaesang Lee spoke out directly. CEO Lee expressed his views on the conflict with former ADORE CEO Heejin Min and financial soundness. In a recent town hall meeting with employees, he stated, "We are taking principled and rational measures," adding, "If you trust and wait, you will witness the unraveling of each knot one by one." Regarding concerns about financial soundness, he said, "The company's financial health is very sound," and "We have available cash of 1.2 trillion won." HYBE decided to issue convertible bonds (CB) worth 400 billion won. The nominal interest rate, early redemption yield, and maturity guaranteed yield are all 0%. Due to the put option (stock purchase right) exercise rate of nearly 100% on the convertible bonds issued in 2021, HYBE was able to secure about 400 billion won to return to investors.

CEO Jaesang Lee was appointed as the head of HYBE last month. Born in 1982, Lee graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in Business Administration. He worked as a strategy consultant at the global management consulting firm Monitor Group and served as the head of the marketing and advertising group at Hyundai Motor Company. He then joined Google before joining Big Hit Entertainment, the predecessor of HYBE, in 2018. Since then, he has held positions such as Chief Innovation Growth Officer (CIGO) at Big Hit Entertainment, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at HYBE, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of HYBE America, and President of HYBE America.

CEO Lee has played a pivotal role in HYBE's business strategy and overall investment. In particular, he led the design and establishment of HYBE's three major business strategy structures: 'Label-Solution-Platform.' He also managed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of domestic labels and technology companies and oversaw HYBE's initial public offering (IPO) process. During his tenure as President of HYBE America, he is credited with playing a significant role in HYBE's acquisition of Ithaca Holdings, the agency representing famous pop stars such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.

HYBE describes CEO Lee as an entertainment industry expert with comprehensive experience in strategy formulation and operations both domestically and internationally. HYBE has high expectations that its performance will improve in the second half of this year with the debut and comeback of major artists. In the fourth quarter, comebacks from key artists such as BTS's Jin, Seventeen, TXT, I-LAND, and ENHYPEN are scheduled consecutively. Since the beginning of this year, HYBE's stock price has fallen over 20% to the 170,000 won range. However, the stock price has been trending upward this month. On the 17th, HYBE's stock price rose more than 7%, closing at 192,100 won.