Bang Si-hyuk named chairman of Big Hit

Big Hit Entertainment, home to the likes of BTS and TXT, announced Monday that founder and largest shareholder Bang Si-hyuk added the title of chairman of the company in a recent shareholders meeting.

Bang, who also maintains the CEO title as chief producer, will be “leading the company from the forefront,” making decisions on core business projects and key issues as well as creative aspects including music production, the company said in a statement.

The decision to elevate Bang’s position was made in a shareholders meeting on April 20 in order to quickly respond to the increasingly complex environment surrounding the entertainment industry, the company said.

Yoon Seok-jun, who had led the company alongside Bang since his appointment as co-CEO early last year, has become Global CEO, while Park Ji-won, who previously served as CEO of Korean video game company Nexon, has been named the HQ CEO to play the role of chief operating officer.

Big Hit also announced it recently founded Big Hit America, as it seeks to expand its tour and intellectual property business globally, with an emphasis on the US and Japanese markets.

The announcement comes on the heels of the decision to postpone BTS’ entire “Map of the Soul” world tour, which was originally set to begin last month.

While acknowledging difficulties ahead, the company said it would compensate for the lack of activities from its artists by adapting to the “new normal” during the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the announcement.

During the livestreamed corporate briefing earlier this year, the company posted record-high sales of 587.9 billion won ($483.5 million), significantly up from 301.4 billion won in 2018, thanks in large part to BTS’ success.

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)