What’s the price tag for keeping a roster of global superstars happy these days? For Hybe Corp., more than $230 million, the value of shares the South Korean music juggernaut has pledged to BTS, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, in addition to more than $100 million the K-Pop sensation has earned from music sales and touring. The shares, which Hybe says are for “inspiring morale,” have almost doubled since the Seoul-based company went public in October as Big Hit Entertainment. Big Hit, which was founded by billionaire Bang Shi-hyuk, set a precedent by offering equity to the seven members of the boy-band powerhouse that is now valued at more than $107 million. That puts the band’s total take as a Hybe group at more than $214 million, including $107 million of pretax earnings Forbes estimates the group has earned since 2018, when they blew up on the global music scene. For Bang, who has a net worth of $2.8 billion, it’s money well spent. BTS represented 87% of the KRW 290 billion ($260 million) Hybe reported for the first half of 2020. That reliance on one group is a key reason for Hybe’s $1.05 billion purchase of Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, which manages Grande and Bieber, and owns the record company, Big Machine Label Group that is home to Rascal Flatts, Sheryl Crow and Tim McGraw. The deal, which closes May 7, will bring Braun’s shares valued more than $103 million plus an undisclosed amount of cash. It’s the second
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