The four biggest entertainment companies in the K-Pop industry recently shared information about their top executive compensation. The figures reported cover salaries and bonuses earned during the first half of 2022 based on semi-annual reports filed by each entertainment company.
1. JYP Entertainment
Founder, vocalist and producer of JYP Entertainment (JYP) Park Jin Young received a salary of ₩2.10 billion KRW (approximately US$1.60 million), consisting of ₩234 million KRW (approximately US$179,000) in salary and ₩1.90 billion KRW (approximately US$1.45 million) in bonuses in the first semester.
CEO of JYP Jung Wook received a salary of 156 million KRW (approximately 119,000 USD) and a bonus of 1.1 billion KRW (approximately 839,000 USD), for a total of 1.26 billion KRW (approximately 958,000 USD). The company claimed that these numbers were “In accordance with the executive compensation regulations, base salary was paid taking into account the duties of the position, leadership, professionalism and contribution to the company.”
JYP Entertainment recorded a net profit of
twice and ITZY each will release a new EP, while Stray Kids are set to release a digital single in Q3. Twice will also release a Japanese album at the end of September.
2. SM Entertainment
SM Entertainment CEO Lee Sung Su he received ₩1.89 billion KRW (about 1.44 million USD), which consists of his actual salary of ₩159 million KRW (about 121,000 USD), as well as the bonus of ₩1.65 billion KRW (about US$1.26 million).
co-executive director Toma YoungJun received ₩1.88 billion KRW (approximately 1.43 million USD), which consists of his actual salary of ₩158 million KRW (approximately 121,000 USD) as well as the same bonus of ₩1.65 billion KRW (approximately 1 .26 million USD).
Producer Lee Soo manFounder of SM Entertainment and largest shareholder with an 18.46% stake in SM, he is no longer a member of the board of directors and his salary has not been disclosed.
SM Entertainment recently released aespa‘sand Super Juniorlast month’s albums, and Girls generation album in August.
3.HYBE
CEO of HYBE Park Ji-Won amassed a total of ₩700 million KRW (about 534,000 USD) in the first half of the year, with a salary of ₩250 billion KRW (about 191 million USD) and a bonus of ₩450 million KRW (about 343 000 USD). The company declares, “The pay-for-performance was approved by the Board of Directors based on a comprehensive assessment of management’s performance in 2021 which was taken into account.”
The remuneration of bang yes hyukThe chairman of HYBE’s board of directors and the company’s largest shareholder with a 31.8% stake, was not disclosed.
HYBE recently debuted with two girl groups, namely The Ssérafim Yes NewJeans, through its subsidiaries Source Music and ADOR, respectively. HYBE is currently holding global auditions for its plans to launch more bands through its existing subsidiaries in 2023.
4. YG Entertainment
YG Entertainment did not disclose the earnings of its executives. This is interpreted to be because registered executives who do not receive more than ₩500 million KRW (about US$381,000) are not required to disclose. According to YG Entertainment’s semi-annual report, the average compensation paid to seven directors and auditors, including the CEO Hwang Bo-kyungit was 139 million KRW (about 106,000 USD).
The company only released one album during its boy band’s second quarter. icon. However, Blackpink will be making a comeback in September for the first time in two years with the full album “Born Pink”.