Which of these company can take over as the fourth of Big 3?

Hmm... I think there an array of factors at play that means anyone could take their place.

If we were to account for Hybe's labels, I think Pledis would be fourth. BigHit would be fifth, going by revenue.

If not taking those into account... Hmm.... probably Starshit.

a kpop company doesn't just take over - the big3 + hybe are the big3 for a reason - they have resources to spare they traditionally debuted successful groups (big4 privilege) the groups they did debut were generally free of trainee debt

The risk or chance depening what you prefer of "HYBE breaking up" is very very low. But let say just for entertainment they do. Are not some of these sublables so big that they would be as big or bigger as Starship by them own? I mean, BTS will end up somewhere, the girl groups will end up somewhere (including mabye NewJeans). My knowledge how how big all companies outside of the "big 4" is limited, but Startship I guess is the closest and they at least two steps behind the others when it comes to revenue.

Cube? they are not even close. But at the end of the day what matters are:

1. Will any company strike gold at get a massive popular group or even two, that of cource can change everthing

2. Any company buying up others to get even bigger (similar to HYBE).

But Startship with Kakao as owners probably is the best canditate.

The development of SME confuse me a bit.... I really thought they would have been a bit more aggressive with new groups, but they are very slow about it.

In the extreme unlikelyhood that Hybe breaks up whereever BTS goes, and they must go somewhere, will be fourth after the Big 3 at the very, very least.

Quote from patrik-k

The risk or chance depening what you prefer of "HYBE breaking up" is very very low. But let say just for entertainment they do. Are not some of these sublables so big that they would be as big or bigger as Starship by them own? I mean, BTS will end up somewhere, the girl groups will end up somewhere (including mabye NewJeans). My knowledge how how big all companies outside of the "big 4" is limited, but Startship I guess is the closest and they at least two steps behind the others when it comes to revenue.

Cube? they are not even close. But at the end of the day what matters are:

1. Will any company strike gold at get a massive popular group or even two, that of cource can change everthing

2. Any company buying up others to get even bigger (similar to HYBE).

But Startship with Kakao as owners probably is the best canditate.

The development of SME confuse me a bit.... I really thought they would have been a bit more aggressive with new groups, but they are very slow about it.

Display More

Even though we disagree on Hybe, I have to agree with you on this.

There's no way HYBE will cease to exist while BTS is still there. The government itself wouldn't let that happen. Remember, K-pop is a major representative of Korean soft power and a major source of income for the economy. And the group that is by far the most famous belongs to HYBE, whether we like it or not.

Quote from Seoged

There's no way HYBE will cease to exist while BTS is still there. The government itself wouldn't let that happen. Remember, K-pop is a major representative of Korean soft power and a major source of income for the economy. And the group that is by far the most famous belongs to HYBE, whether we like it or not.

This government doesn't care.

Anyway, it isn't Hybe that is generating the revenue, it's the labels. If Hybe were to disappear, I don't think people would care that much. If BigHit and Pledis were to... well, that would be a different story.