HYBE Industry Trend Reports Reveal Controversies: Bang Si Hyuk Hires High-Salary Editor for Their Compilation
HYBE Reports: The Hidden Face
The recent controversial pages of HYBE Labels’ “Industry Trend Reports” that were publicly leaked are just “the tip of the iceberg.” According to inside sources, the reports are over 2,000 pages long with information that could seriously harm the entertainment industry.
Additionally, the relationship between Bang Si Hyuk, chairman of HYBE Labels, and 'K', former editor-in-chief of Weverse Magazine, is also raising questions. Before taking up his position at Weverse Magazine, 'K' worked as an editor for a major media outlet and was known for his influential "Weekly Reports," similar to the "Industry Trend Reports" he later wrote for Bang Si Hyuk.
After establishing HYBE Labels, Bang Si Hyuk began looking for influential editors and journalists to “recruit on his own.” He eventually hired ‘K,’ offering him a management position at HYBE Labels’ subsidiary, Weverse Magazine.
'K' was paid a hefty salary to become an editor at Weverse Magazine, but his main mission was to oversee the compilation of "Industry Trend Reports," documents used to inform HYBE Labels' executives about the latest developments in the K-Pop industry. These reports were considered crucial by Bang Si Hyuk, who paid close attention to industry trends and consumer opinions.
However, even for executives of competing entertainment agencies, 'K's' "Industry Trend Reports" contain "biased" content that "explicitly reveals the author's intentions to denigrate competing artists."
Min Hee Jin, former CEO of ADOR, was one of the first high-level employees at HYBE Labels to draw attention to the problematic nature of these reports. In an internal email to the main branch executives on April 16 this year, she wrote, “The ‘Industry Trend Reports’ written every week by Weverse Magazine’s editor-in-chief ‘K’ contain excessively biased and opinionated content. However, what ADOR needs are accurate numbers and indices. At least try to maintain a certain level of objectivity.”
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