Lenzo Yoon will leave South Korea-based entertainment giant HYBE at the end of 2024.
This is according to reports published by Korean media Celebrate talents every day The executive’s contract contains a non-compete clause that expires at the end of 2024, according to business newspapers.
The executive most recently served as co-CEO of HYBE America, a role he held with Scooter Braun until January 2023, when the latter became HYBE America’s sole CEO.
Lenzo Yoon has been a key executive at HYBE since joining the company as head of strategic planning in 2010, when the company was still known as Big Hit Entertainment.
Braun has not held an official position at HYBE America since he became its sole CEO early last year.
Braun joined HYBE in April 2021 after selling his company, Ithaca Holdings, to the K-pop giant for $1.05 billion. .
In February 2023, Braun led HYBE’s acquisition of Atlanta rap giant QC Media Holdings, or Quality Control, home to artists such as Lil Baby, Migos, Lil Yachty and City Girls.
Yoon is credited with conceiving the vast in-house fan content within HYBE’s business, a key factor in the rise of the company’s flagship K-pop group BTS.
Superfan content continues to be a key part of the company’s strategy.
HYBE operates the Weverse superfan app, which recently attracted investment from Universal Music Group as part of an expanded long-term agreement with HYBE.
Weverse has become a major success story for HYBE, driven by content delivered to fans via the app, such as music videos, trailers, movies and live streams. Yoon viewed this as a key factor in HYBE’s revenue growth during the epidemic in 2020.
Since then, the app has continued to expand with artists from SM Entertainment and Universal Music Group joining, with UMG superstar Ariana Grande recently confirmed to be joining Weverse. According to Weavers, 90% of 130 artists As of April, it currently has record labels signed on its platform other Compare move.
HYBE Chairman Bang Si Hyuk has previously called Big Hit a “content powerhouse.” In a March 2021 speech for SXSW Online, Yoon explained why the company initially decided to focus on content strategy.
Yoon said: “As BTS prepared to debut, the world was becoming digital. We focused on the possibilities of new media, and we knew that new media would become a more important part of fans’ lives.
“We thought that in this new environment, content would be more important than channel branding. We started creating our own content.
“This content became the link between our artists and fans. Now they love the world in many forms, from short films, variety shows, documentaries, reality shows and more.
Yoon’s LinkedIn profile states that he “predicted [of] internal content.
Yoon was promoted to HYBE’s chief commercial officer in 2018 (eight years after joining the company) and then to co-chief executive officer alongside Bang Si-hyuk in 2019.
He became global CEO in May 2020, ahead of the company’s debut on the Korean stock market.
Bang Si-hyuk resigned as HYBE CEO in July 2021 as part of a major shake-up of the company’s leadership, but remains as chairman of the board.
Park Ji-won was subsequently appointed as HYBE’s CEO and has since overseen HYBE’s overall management strategies and operations.
HYBE confirmed at the time that Lenzo Yoon and Scooter Braun would serve as co-CEOs for HYBE’s U.S. operations, and said in a statement that its plans would involve “fully transplanting the K-pop business model to the U.S. market.”
In November 2021, HYBE and Geffen, a unit of Universal Music Group, announced a joint venture called HYBE x Geffen Global Girl Group Audition. Through the joint venture, the two companies search for new girl group talent around the world. The final six members of the group, named KATSEYE, were revealed in November.
HYBE’s revenue in the first quarter of 2024 will reach 360.92 billion won ($271.57 million Calculated at the average exchange rate in the first quarter), a 12.1 year-on-year According to the company’s latest financial report released on Thursday (May 2), the company’s stock price fell.
HYBE has not yet responded to MBW’s request for comment on reports of Lenzo Yoon’s departure.global music business
