As of 2:23 p.m. on August 9th, HYBE’s stock was trading at 172,700 won, a decline of 6.04% (11,000 won) from the previous day.
On the previous day, HYBE closed in the KOSPI market at 183,800 won, an increase of 2,300 won (1.27%) from the day before. However, in the early trading, the stock dropped significantly by 4%.
Two days earlier, on the 7th, HYBE announced that their consolidated sales in the second quarter were 640.5 billion won, the highest ever for a quarter, causing the stock price to surge by up to 10% during the day.
However, the stock kept going down after the news of Suga’s electric scooter drunk driving incident broke out on the 7th and witnesses of Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and famous AfreecaTV BJ Juice Seyeon in Beverly Hills, California on the 8th.
In particular, Suga initially claimed, “I fell while parking the electric scooter after drinking a glass of beer and going 500 meters to return home”. However, the police conducted an investigation and found out that Suga’s blood alcohol concentration was at the level of license revocation and that he actually traveled more than 500m, causing criticism to arise.
Chairman Bang Si-hyuk was spotted walking on the street with BJ Juice Seyeon and her older sister, sparking controversies. Photos of Bang Si-hyuk taking pictures of Juice Seyeon also spread in online communities. In this regard, HYBE explained, “In the past, he happened to meet Juice Seyoen’s older sister at a gathering with acquaintances and gave her advice on how to respond to impersonators. Later, Juice Seyeon and her sister came to LA together and they asked him about tourist spots and restaurants. Therefore, he made reservations and guided them”. Despite HYBE’s explanation, controversies continued.
In response to the continuous issues in HYBE, individual investors are expressing frustrations in online stock discussion forums. Pouring harsh criticism on HYBE, they commented, “They gave shareholders only 0.38% dividend, I wonder if they also gave Juice Seyeon 0.38%”, “All I can do is cursing”, “Bang Si-hyuk’s risk”, “Bang Si-hyuk steps forward to cover up Suga’s drunk driving incident”, “He became a tour guide for a BJ? I thought he had a lot of work to do as a Chairman of such a big company”, “Shareholders are very frustrated”, “Owner’s risk is becoming more apparent”, “The stock dropped 3% due to the electric scooter issue and another 3% after the BJ dating issue. A loss of 250 billion won for a scooter and female BJ date”, etc.
