Hive's annual sales of 2.65 trillion 'best ever'..BTS Expects to Improve Performance as a Full Group

*This content was translated by AI.

Hive rewrote its highest since its foundation, posting annual sales up about 18% year-over-year. The "multi-home, multi-genre" strategy aimed at the global market and strong sales growth in the performance sector drove the expansion of its appearance. Operating profit fell year-on-year as cost of improving the constitution, such as preemptive investment for mid- to long-term growth and profit restructuring, was reflected.

According to Hive on the 12th, consolidated sales in 2025 amounted to 2.6499 trillion won, with performance in the performance sector driving performance growth. Hive performed a total of 279 global performances (250 concerts and 29 fan meetings) last year, resulting in sales of 763.9 billion won in the performance sector, up about 69% from the previous year.

Based on these box office performances, Hive entered the "Big Four" ranks, ranking fourth globally in the "Top Promoter" category of Billboard's "2025 Box Score Annual Report," up five notches from the previous year. Three of the four K-pop artists (J-Hope, Seventeen, and ENHYPEN) who entered the Billboard Top Tour category were counted as Hive Music Group artists, reaffirming their solid IP (Intellectual Property) power.

In 2025, Hive maintained solid influence in the market despite the overall trend of adjustments in the music market. The cumulative sales volume on a yearly circle chart was about 1.60 million units and the market share was about 30%. Hive Music Group artists stream a total of 3.7 billion times a year, with a 3% share based on "Global Spotify 200." Sound sources accounted for about 37% of Hive's total album sales in 2025.

Global superfan platform Weverse achieved an annual surplus through profit restructuring and operational efficiency. The expansion of artists' entry, advancement of e-commerce operations, and diversification of profits through digital business expansion contributed to the strong performance. This year, performance is expected to improve further due to the resumption of BTS team activities and the growth of e-commerce and digital businesses.

Consolidated operating profit in 2025 was KRW 49.9 billion, down about 73% from the previous year. The decrease in operating profit was affected by initial investment costs following the debut of new artists and one-time costs during the business restructuring process.

First of all, the initial cost was concentrated with the debut of a number of artists such as Aoen in Japan, CORTIS in Korea, and SANTOS BRAVOS in Latin. They are growing into core IPs for each region. Aoen reached the top of the Oricon Daily Chart with her debut single "The Blue Sun", while Cortis became a million seller in her first year. Santos Brabos' debut concert of 10,000 seats was sold out, and 70,000 people watched the stage online.

The one-time cost of streamlining the operation of the business structure was also reflected. Hive is restructuring its business structure in North America to mitigate the volatility of its existing management-oriented structure and shift to a label-oriented IP business model. As a result of conservative re-examination of the adequacy of asset values in line with the changed business structure, the management business sector recognized an impairment loss of about 200 billion won in the fourth quarter of last year as non-operating profit or loss. This is an accounting loss with no real cash outflow. The move is aimed at increasing accounting transparency and predictability, and the risk of additional large-scale reductions is likely to be limited given the current strengthened fundamentals of Hive America. Hive predicts that this preemptive constitution improvement effect will lead to a full-fledged increase in profitability starting this year.

The ripple effect of Hive's label-driven business model in the global market has been proven by the CatsI case. As of the fourth quarter of last year, Cats Eye exceeded 36 million monthly Spotify listeners, the highest among girl groups worldwide. In particular, while the title song "Gabriela" has been in the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 28 consecutive weeks, it has recently achieved a result of posting two songs in the top 30 at the same time. It is the first girl group since Destiny's Child. The first solo tour "The BEUTIFUL CHAOS Tour" was sold out, and the tour MD's purchase per audience exceeded existing pop artists.

This year, Hive plans to expand its influence in the global music market. First of all, BTS will release its fifth full-length album "ARIRANG" on March 20. The full album, which will be released in about four years, will lead to the largest world tour ever, which compiles Hive's global operational capabilities. Currently, the 82nd performance schedule in 34 cities around the world, the largest number ever based on a single tour of K-pop artists, has been confirmed, and additional schedules in Japan and the Middle East will be revealed in the future.

In Korea, a new girl group will debut sometime this year, and in the North American market, a follow-up global girl group that inherits the success equation of Cats Eye will be introduced. Local boy group projects are also stepping up preparations for their debut through collaboration with Ryan Tether, a multi-platinum producer who won four "Grammy Awards." At the same time, Alan's Universe project, which has 100 million YouTube subscribers, introduces an innovative IP that combines storytelling and music. It also plans to operate projects optimized for local culture in the Indian market.

Hive also unveiled a new shareholder return plan covering the next three years to enhance shareholder value. It will introduce a "minimum dividend system" that guarantees a minimum dividend of 500 won per share for the first time as a K-content company. In addition, dividend-based indicators will also shift from current net income to consolidated free cash flow (FCF), which reflects real cash generation power. This is to reduce volatility due to non-cash profit or loss and to make dividend size prediction easier. By applying these standards, it plans to use less than 30% of its free cash flow as a return resource from 2025 to 2027.

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*This content was translated by AI.