The number in the left is how much stocks they own as of Jan 2, 2024, and the second number is the values of such as of May 2, 2024, after the Min Heejin circus, in Korean won. As the time of this writing $1 = 1,370 KRW
The above list includes a lot of folks having nothing to do with KPop, owning other contents such as e-books, etc, and I am not going to bother with them.
Selected list (All numbers as of May 2)
1. Bang Sihyuk - Hybe - 2.630 trillion KRW = $1.92 billion
2. Park Jinyoung - JYPE - 365 bil KRW = $266 mil (all subsequent numbers are in dollars.)
3. Yang Hyunsuk - YGE - 112 million
(Yang also owns lots of real estate but only stock holdings are calculated.)
[4 is a ebook publisher, having nothing to do with KPop]
5. Scooter Brown - Hybe - 52.7 mil. His holdings elsewhere are not considered.
12. Yang Minsuk - YGE - 20.1 mil. He is the brother of Yang Hyunsuk.
14. Kang Seunggon - Cube - 13.5m. I guess this guy owns Cube now.
15. Kim Jinwoo - RBW - 13.5m. One of the majority owners of RBW.
18. Kim Singyu - Hybe - 12.8m. He is the head of managers in Hybe. PDogg, Kang Hyowon, is not in here - guess he has liquidated his positions.
19. Kim Dohoon - RBW - 11.7m. He co-owns RBW although he is better known as a composer.
20-23 (tied) - Kim Taehyung, Min Yoongi, Park Jimin, Jun Jungkook - Hybe - 9.97m.
24 - Han Sungho - FNC - 9.8m
26 - Jung Hoseok - Hybe - 9.15m
27 - Kim Namjoon - Hybe - 8.46m
30 - Kim Seokjin - Hybe - 7.63m.
Lee Sooman sold his shares out so is not counted, and ditto to everyone associated with that company.
If Min Heejin got her way, she would have collected between 300B-400B KRW, or about $210-290 million.
That would make her richer than Yang Hyunsuk (not counting his real estate holdings, but) , and possibly even JYP.
She would have become the second most powerful person in KPop if she got her way!
But even if not, she would have collected 100B KRW, or about $70m.
That would have put her just next to Yang Hyunsuk.
Now Hybe will fight tooth and nail to deny her, and only pay 3 bil won, or about $2.19m, if possible. That lawsuit will drag for years, and during which she is not going to be able to work, although she will try to influence NewJeans thru her channels.
No discussion of such numbers is complete without discussing probably the most successful female businessperson in the history of KPop, if Min Heejin loses her lawsuits.
Lee Jieun owned 60% of Edam Entertainment (30% was in her proxy's name).
She sold 12.5%(7.5% in her name, 5% in her proxy's name) of Edam Entertainment back to Kakao in 2022. Her 7.5% share was valued at 7.48 Billion KRW, or about $11 million, with the prevailing exchange rate at that time. She sold 3% of Edam back to Kakao for an unknown amount in 2023.
So she still owns 44.5% of Edam Entertainment.
Edam Entertainment is not publicly traded so she is not included in there, but if her company is still as valuable as what it was in 2022, her share of Edam Entertainment would be about 46.3 billion won, or ... $33.7 million.
That puts Lee Jieun under everyone else but Bang, JYP and Yang Hyunsuk!
Virtually no surveys of idol's wealth include the stocks of Edam while calculating Lee Jieun's wealth. With the $33 mil added, Lee Jieun, whose wealth is estimated at $45m in many surveys, is actually worth $78m, while Kim Taehyung, often cited as the runner up, is worth $40 mil, now somewhat reduced because the Hybe stock he is holding has declined after the Min Heejin circus.
I have said that BTS is not as wealthy as they look like, and IU is much richer than them . In reality it seems Lee Jieun is wealthier than all owners in companies not named Hybe, JYPE and YGE (and the ex owner of SM).
