Hybe Co., the South Korean music company behind pop groups BTS and NewJeans, has acquired the music division of Spanish-language studio Exile Content, its first step into the burgeoning market for Latin music.
Isaac Lee, founder of Exile Content, will become chairman of the board at Hybe’s Latin unit, while Kah Jong-Hyun, a former executive at YG Entertainment Inc., will become chief executive officer of Hybe Latin America, Hybe said. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Lee and Kah will work together to apply the Korean process of scouting and developing musicians to the world of Latin music. South Korean companies typically spend years building acts in a process known as training & development.
Billionaire Bang Si-Hyuk, the founder of Hybe and creator of BTS, is expanding outside South Korea to diversify beyond K-pop, which has seen slower growth in some regions recently. BTS, the company’s most successful group, is on hiatus for a couple of years while its members serve in the South Korean army. The group plans a reunion in 2025, with an album and a project celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt.1, Bang said at the Bloomberg Screentime event last month.
Hybe shares in Seoul fell more than 3%, while the benchmark Kospi was almost unchanged.
Hybe acquired Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, a management company and record label, in 2021, and bought QC, an Atlanta-based record label, earlier this year. Both of those companies are based in the US, the world’s largest music market, and specialize in English-language music.
Recorded music sales climbed 26% in Latin America last year, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Latin music sales have also spiked in the US, where acts such as Shakira, Karol G and Bad Bunny have all topped the charts.
Read more: The Year Latin Music Took Over the World
“In the long term, Hybe aims to graft K-pop’s proven methodology to the Latin genre.” Hybe said in a statement to Bloomberg. “Hybe Latin America will unveil various businesses in the near future, including the Latin global group project that will based on K-pop’s T&D (Training and Development) system.”
Lee started Exile Content in 2019 and later sold it to Candle Media, which is led by two former Walt Disney Co. executives and backed by Blackstone Inc. Lee will continue to lead the remaining parts of Exile Content owned by Candle including film and TV business as chief executive officer.
(Adds stock reaction in fifth paragraph. More details in last.)
