Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind South Korean superstar group BTS. made its stock market debut on Thursday in Seoul. Riding on the success of BTS, its stock shot up the charts just moments after opening.
The company began the day with a valuation of $8.38 billion, nearly doubling its initial public offering price. By the end of trading, shares had slipped 4% from their opening number but still finished with more than a 90% gain on the offer price.
Big Hit Entertainment currently earns around 90% of its revenues from the success of BTS, and each member of the band received 68,000 shares amounting to $8 million initially, but within moments of the market opening, that number had doubled to $16 million with the stock’s early success.
Both BTS and Big Hit Entertainment owe some of the stock success to their fans as many claimed to have purchased one share as a piece of memorabilia.
BTS found themselves involved in controversy earlier in the week when Chinese authorities and Chinese nationalists criticized the band after lead singer RM thanked Korean war veterans for their service. The band was receiving an award for promoting U.S. and South Korea relations.
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