On February 23, Big Hit Entertainment shared their profits for 2020, recording their greatest annual business performance since the founding of the agency.

In 2020, Big Hit recorded an annual sales revenue of 796.3 billion won (approximately $716.4 million), an operating profit of 142.4 billion won (approximately $128.1 million), and a net income of 86.2 billion won (approximately $77.6 million). These preliminary settlement figures are calculated by the agency, following the accounting standards of K-IFRS, without the accounting audit of an external auditor.

Compared to 2019, the agency’s sales revenue has increased 36 percent, with their operating profit and net income increasing 44 and 19 percent respectively. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, these mark Big Hit Entertainment’s highest performance numbers to date.

In the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, Big Hit accumulated a sales revenue of 312.3 billion won (approximately $281 million) as well as an operating profit of 52.5 billion won (approximately $47.2 million). Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, these numbers see increases of 117 and 122 percent respectively. When looking at their quarterly performance, this fourth quarter also records Big Hit’s highest figures since its founding.

The greatest factors influencing this increase in revenue were excellent album sales and business growth. Big Hit Label’s artists, including BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT, ENHYPEN, and more, sold 13.2 million copies of albums (according to Gaon charts). As a result, revenue from album sales was 320.6 billion won (approximately $288.5 million), which is an increase of 196 percent from 2019.

After acquiring Pledis Entertainment in May 2020 and KOZ Entertainment in November 2020, Big Hit now has a multi-label structure with five different labels, also including BELIFT LAB and Source Music.

Business growth also had a significant impact on revenue increases. Although the agency saw a decrease in sales from concerts due to COVID-19, Big Hit focused on official merchandise and licensing, content, and fan clubs. This led to increases of 53, 71, and 66 percent compared to 2019, respectively.

Big Hit’s global fan community platform Weverse also saw continued growth throughout the year. As of February 2021, the total number of app downloads surpassed 25 million.

Along with their performance report, Big Hit Entertainment commented, “Even in the midst of COVID-19, we were able to record our highest performance figures ever due to our solid business structure. Through the continued growth of our Big Hit Label artists along with our inorganic growth through acquisitions and mergers, we have a strategy to continue expanding our business scope.”

They continued, “Including our integration with Naver V Live’s business division through the recently announced WEVERSE COMPANY and our partnership with Universal Music Group, we plan to continue working with external partners in diverse ways to continue our growth.”

Source (1)

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