| BTS members perform during their concert held at the SOFI Stadium in Los Angeles on Nov. 28, local time. Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment |
By Anna J. Park
Shares of HYBE, which owns the entertainment company that manages K-pop sensation BTS, have been dropping for over two weeks now. The stock has continued to slip after rising to an all-time high of 421,500 won ($357) during intra-day trading as well as the highest closing price of 414,000 won on Nov. 17.
The stock finished at 330,000 won on Thursday, plunging 6.38 percent from the previous day and down more than 20 percent within just half a month.
The fall has been accelerated by reports that some BTS members as well as the firm's global CEO Lenzo Yoon sold a considerable amount of their shares in November. Thursday's fall of 6.38 percent is the biggest daily plunge since late June.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure earlier this week, three BTS members ― Jin, J-Hope and RM ― sold nearly 10 billion won worth of HYBE shares between October and November. That's when the entertainment company's shares were on a bullish trend. HYBE shares soared by over 45 percent from mid-October to mid-November.
Jin sold 16,000 shares on Oct. 19 for 302,688 won per stock, earning 4.84 billion won. J-Hope sold 5,601 shares at 332,063 won a share on Oct. 22, garnering 1.85 billion won. RM sold a total of 10,385 shares during Oct. 13 to Nov. 9, grabbing 3.2 billion won.
Each of BTS' seven members owns 68,385 common shares of HYBE, as they were given the stocks when the firm was listed on the KOSPI last autumn.
Yoon, also known as Yoon Seok-jun and heads HYBE America and the global business of HYBE, also sold some 120,000 shares of the firm that he acquired through stock options. He unloaded his holdings on Nov. 16 and 17, when the stock price reached the highest level since the IPO last year. The CEO pocketed a total of 24.9 billion won after selling the firm's shares. Since then, HYBE shares continued on a downward path for two straight weeks.
When a firm's executive directors or major shareholders sell the company shares, it usually sends a negative signal to the market, being perceived as a sign that even the top management of a firm regards the current stock price as having peaked.
What could also be a negative sign of HYBE's future stock price movement is that some of BTS's global fans are voicing their opposition towards HYBE's non-fungible token (NFT) business plans. They criticize the firm's moves, given BTS's speech on climate change at the UN in September, as contradicting the group's eco-friendly gestures.
"This corporation, HYBE, is abusing a fandom that makes eco-sustainable projects. Understand we do not want your NFT. #BoycottHybeNFT," a Twitter user wrote in early November, upon HYBE's announcement of a joint NFT project with Dunamu, a major blockchain enterprise in Korea.
"NFT is a blockchain that needs a huge amount of energy. BTS is engaged in fighting climate crisis," another Twitter user also criticized. Fans expressed their discontent using #BoycottHybeNFT and #ARMYAgainstNFT to curb the firm's crypto business plans.