Which is preferable? 48
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Owning 1.31% of a $10.53 billion company (34) 71%
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Effectively owning 60% of a $25 million company (14) 29%
The last time I checked, Hybe's total market cap is 10.53 million.
BTS members were awarded a whooping 1.41% of the company , but last year Kim Seokjin, Kim Namjoon and Jung Hosuk sold around 0.10% of shares altogether, leaving about 1.31% on the hands of the members (Min Yoongi, Kim Taehyung, Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook own around 0.20% each, the other three slightly less.)
Meanwhile, according to the financial statement of Kakao Entertainment released last year, Kakao owns $10 million worth of the stock of Edam Entertainment, for 40%, with the 60% effectively owned by IU through her proxies.
For ease of calculation let's ignore the shares the three members sold last year and say each member still has about 0.20% of the shares.
As of today, they own about $21 million worth of Hybe stocks.
However, do they have a say about how Hybe is run?
They would have some say, but they ultimately answer to Mr. Bang who makes the final decision, whether the members like or not.
And he has spent a lot of money they had made on his own business operations.
Meanwhile, the 60% stake effectlvely owned by Lee Jieun, about $15 million, is hers to burn.
If BTS is like some mutual fund or ETF they would be happy about the returns.
However they actually bring the majority of revenue to the company only to see most of it being frittered away on other projects.
The effective owner of Edam Entertainment spends all of its revenue for herself. (It appears Shin Sekyung, who is the other figure in Edam Entertainment, has her own accounting and her own staff which the effective owner does NOT touch and their finances are not intermingled.)
The greatest thing of having a majority stake in your company is you get to do whatever you feel like, without having to answer to anybody. That might be worth the $6 million shortfall of ownership which Lee Jieun, whose stake is worth $15 million, can feel over the BTS members, whose stakes are worth $21 million (less for those who sold their stakes), each.