IPO to make the boys of BTS multimillionaires as boss gives them shares ahead of record label’s stock market flotation

Big Hit Entertainment boss Bang Si-hyuk gave members of BTS almost 500,000 shares in the company between them

The shares could be worth US$7.75 million for each member if the company’s initial share offering is priced at the top of its range

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BTS have been given shares in their label Big Hit Entertainment that will make them multimillionaire shareholders in the company when the IPO goes through.

Published: 10:00pm, 4 Sep 2020Updated: 10:00pm, 4 Sep 2020

Members of hugely popular South Korean K-pop band BTS are expected to become multimillionaire shareholders after receiving shares in their label, Big Hit Entertainment, as it prepares an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise up to 962.6 billion won (US$811 million).

This week, BTS scored South Korea’s first-ever No 1 spot on the main US Billboard music chart with breezy disco hit Dynamite. Their first all-English language single hit the spot for mainstream US pop fans, with the song’s music video receiving more than 284 million views on YouTube already.

Bang Si-hyuk, the CEO and largest shareholder of BTS’ label Big Hit Entertainment, last month gave 478,695 common shares to the seven BTS members, or 68,385 each, “to strengthen long-term partnership with major artists and boost morale”, Big Hit said in a regulatory filing.

Each BTS member would get 9.23 billion won worth of shares, or 64.6 billion won altogether, if the IPO is priced at the top of its range in October.

The stock gift might be interpreted as an attempt to bind the BTS members and the label more closely together, said Kim Hyun-yong, analyst at eBEST Investment & Securities.

Big Hit plans to offer about 7.1 million shares at an indicative price range of 105,000 to 135,000 won per share.