HYBE CEO mentions the Min Hee-jin controversy “Sorry for causing concerns while pioneering the path of multi-labels”

CEO Park Ji-won stated during a conference call announcing the first quarter performance held online on the morning of May 2nd, “HYBE has encountered various challenges, big and small, while pioneering the path of multi-labels.” He expressed apologies to the shareholders for causing concerns during this process.

Regarding the suspicion of ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin seizing management rights, CEO Park explained, “The company has specifically verified the matter through an audit process. We will take necessary measures moving forward.“

Furthermore, CEO Park mentioned, “While building a multi-label system, we have experienced many trials and errors and have overcome them to grow. Although some may have doubts about the multi-label system due to this incident, we will strive to resolve this issue properly and continue to contemplate on what improvements need to be made for the advancement of the multi-label system.”

Earlier, HYBE announced on April 22nd that they had detected signs of seizing management rights involving CEO Min Hee-jin and executives of ADOR. Alongside this revelation, HYBE requested a board meeting for the replacement of ADOR’s management and conducted an internal audit. Especially, according to the interim audit results announced by HYBE on April 25th, concrete evidence had been secured indicating plans led by CEO Min Hee-jin to seize ADOR’s management rights from HYBE.

However, CEO Min Hee-jin denied these claims during an emergency press conference held on the same day. CEO Min Hee-jin stated at the press conference that she was audited when she made an internal complaint about HYBE and rebutted that the documents cited as evidence were merely private conversation memos.

Meanwhile, HYBE announced that its first-quarter sales for 2024 amounted to 360.9 billion won, a decrease of about 12% compared to the same period last year. This was offset by the successful debut of the groups TWS and ILLIT while senior idols took breaks.

Operating profit recorded 14.4 billion won, a decrease of 73% compared to the same period last year, mainly due to the activity gap of existing artists and initial costs related to the debut of new groups.

HYBE expects both sales and operating profits to improve from the second quarter onwards as artists resume activities in earnest and world tours commence. SEVENTEEN, TXT and BOYNEXTDOOR made comebacks in April, and ENHYPEN and NewJeans are also preparing for comebacks. BTS’s Jin will complete his military service in June.