[Newsmaker] Big Hit CEO Bang Si-hyuk likely to hit jack pot with IPO

The scheduled initial offering of Big Hit Entertainment, the label behind K-pop boy band BTS, is likely to make its CEO Bang Si-hyuk one of the wealthiest people in South Korea

The Big Hit CEO is currently holding 12,377,337 shares, or 43.44 percent, of the company, according to the recent regulatory filing for the IPO.

The entertainment agency plans to offer 7.13 million shares at a price between 105,000 won ($88) and 135,000 won.

Should the offering price be set at 135,000 won, Bang’s shares will be worth some 1.6 trillion won, which surpasses the combined value of stocks owned by seven wealthiest figures in the entertainment business, including Park Jin-young, CEO of JYP Entertainment, and Lee Soo-man, CEO of SM Entertainment. Their stocks are collectively worth 710 billion won.

In that scenario, Bang will likely be the 14th richest person in the entire stock market, outpacing Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, heiresses of the nation’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group.

In addition, his value could reach some 4.3 trillion won if the opening price is set at a level double the IPO price and gets off to a flying start to reach the upper price limit on the first trading day.

Then, CEO Bang could become the fifth wealthiest person in the local market, outgunning Chung Mong-koo, chairman of automotive behemoth Hyundai Motor Group, whose stock value comes at 4.25 trillion won.

During Big Hit’s IPO subscription for retail investors last Tuesday and Wednesday, the amount of subscription deposits reached 58.5 trillion won, exceeding the previous record of 30.8 trillion won set by SK Biopharmaceuticals in June.

“Big Hit’s market cap can reach up to 4.8 trillion won based on the offering price, much higher than an estimated corporate value of 3.5 trillion won,” said Kim Hyun-yong, an analyst from stock brokerage firm eBest Investment & Securities, attributing the result to the company’s better-than-expected earnings results in the first half of the year.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)