HYBE’s stock jumped over 6% as BTS moves closer to a full-group comeback.
HYBE, the South Korean entertainment company, saw its stock rise over 6% recently. The increase happened when excitement grew among fans and investors for the full-group return of globally popular superstars BTS.
On January 10, 2025, HYBE’s share price reached 215,500 KRW, reflecting a remarkable increase of 6.95% versus yesterday (201,500 KRW). On February 12, 2025, shares reached a 52-week high at roughly 250,000 KRW-and an increase of 1.83% in one trading session.
This increase was fueled by two major developments. First, BTS is at the end of their compulsory military service for all members. Jin and J-Hope are both already back to their public activities.
RM and V were also expected to finish by June 10, 2025, Jimin and Jungkook on June 11, and Suga is set to finish on June 22. These milestones all gave investors confidence that a group comeback would happen relatively soon.
HYBE’s concert business has been thriving prior to this jump in the stock. In 2024, HYBE artists performed an astonishing 172 concerts and generated a 25.6% increase in concert revenue year-over-year – an extraordinary jump of 111% in the last quarter alone. Groups including SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, TXT, and LE SSERAFIM contributed heavily through tours and new albums.
However, HYBE’s quarter was plagued by financial pressures. Operating profit in the fourth quarter declined by 37.5% from the prior year and fell short of market expectations. Furthermore, the company received a net loss of 3.4 billion KRW from the previous quarter, even though total sales rose by 3.5%.
HYBE showed a total revenue increase of 4%, reaching an estimated 1.58 billion USD in 2024, despite these monetary adversities through concert revenue and increased confidence from investors ahead of BTS’s return.
Before the military service break, BTS made up close to 95% of HYBE’s revenue share. This share dropped to approximately 20% during the hiatus as the group was less active and they shifted towards other artists.
“While we are seeing new artists and businesses take off, BTS’s return will be a key contributor to their profit margins in 2025”, explained HYBE CFO Lee Kyung-Jun.
In a shareholder report shared in late April 2025, HYBE suggested that BTS might start group-level activities during Q4 2025, however, it stopped short of calling it a “comeback.” Fans lost their minds on social media and began speculating about concerts, special events, or new music.
Nonetheless, uncertainty remains. HYBE continues to invest heavily in global expansion, such as the recent push into the United States and Latin America. These moves reduced profitability in the interim until 2024.
Also, the CFO mentioned that BTS will create significant sales, but we expect other artists and new business lines to eventually be able to rely less on BTS revenues.
HYBE’s stock was up more than 6% in large part on increasing buzz surrounding J-Hope’s world tour and BTS’s anticipated full-group return. This surge followed a very recent decline in profit, as HYBE was signaling mid-2025 activity to show that they expect to return to group activity in Q4 2025.
With both fan sentiment and market sentiment aligned with them, HYBE appears to be on a positive trajectory with momentum toward the BTS comeback.
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