HYBE is planning to debut a new girl group, and concerns are raised about the negative impact on the company’s performance
BTS’s company – HYBE – is planning to debut a girl group in the fourth quarter of this year.
It is said that HYBE has been preparing for the debut of their new girl group in collaboration with Source Music, a subsidiary HYPE acquired in 2019. More specifically, the preparation is planned by Bang Si Hyuk, CEO of HYPE, and the Chief Brand Officer (CBO) Min Hee Jin, one of the people who formed popular girl groups in SM such as Girls’ Generation, f(x), and Red Velvet. Netizens are paying attention to them since this is the first girl group that HYPE produced and also the first new group that CBO Min Hee Jin worked on since she joined HYPE.
However, concerns have been raised about the negative impact of debuting a new girl group at the moment. People are worrying that the performance of the company will decrease in the fourth quarter and next year as it will take much time for a new group to expand their fandom.
Expectations for the new girl group created by Bang Si Hyuk and Min Hee Jin
The new girl group’s debut is originally scheduled in October, an officer from HYBE said to the media on August 9, “We are preparing for the launching of a girl group in the fourth quarter. However, the exact date, the number of the group members, and their music genre are still being kept as secret.”
He also added “We have high expectations on the group because they are the new faces who can be compared to BLACKPINK as for both visuals and skills.”
It is reported that last month HYPE registered a few trademarks at KIPO, such as “RED MARBLE” or “CHAKHO”. People are guessing that it would be the name of their new girl group.
In order to form the girl group, HYPE hosted auditions in 16 cities of 7 countries including the US, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and South Korea.
Above all, people are even thrilled knowing that this group is the result of the collaboration of CEO Bang Si Hyuk who created BTS, and CBO Min Hee Jin who contributed to the great success of many top girl groups. CEO Bang Si Hyuk is in charge of the music production while CBO Min Hee Jin is responsible in the creating of concepts and branding.
The impact of the new girl group on the overall performance of HYBE
HYPE has shown great improvement on the stock market with profits from BTS’s album released in the second half of this year, their sales in merchandises, the expansion of Weverse platform.
However, there are concerns that the launching of the new girl group will negatively affect the improvement of HYPE’s performance in the fourth quarter and even until next year. They need to pour a large amount of investments on the new group and if the group do not succeed within 2 or 3 years, it would result into a deficit of up to billions of won. It is such a challenge for a new group to make a hit right after their debut.
Other officer said “There is a slight difference in album selling between a boy group and a girl group. However, we will have to wait and see how the company would expand the fandom after the group’s debut.”
