As one of the top three entertainment companies in Korea, YG Entertainment has passed screening to go public on the KOSDAQ (Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations), a Korean stock market exchange equivalent of America’s NASDAQ. YG will be the 2nd entertainment company to qualify to be listed on the stock market, following SM Entertainment.
YG Entertainment passed the Stock Exchange Commission’s screening to go public on the KOSDAQ. The stock price is anticipated to be set around 24,600~28,800 WON (around $22 – $26 USD with a face value of 500 WON). Around 35 billion won (around $33 million USD) will be up for trade on the initial public offering.
For those of you with a keen memory, YG failed their initial screening process to be listed on the KOSDAQ in the 4th quarter of last year and applied for the process once again in under a year, successfully qualifying this go around with risen share prices.
With 2NE1 and Big Bang sweeping the charts and topping album sales, along with the total views of all YG related videos on Youtube hitting over 400 million (as of May 6th), YG Entertainment’s explosive sensation overseas was a key factor in their success.
Having top idols groups such as Big Bang and 2NE1, along with, Se7en, Psy, Gummy, and many other star musicians, YG Entertainment is a blue chip company as their sales in 2010 is estimated to be around 44.8 billion won (around $44 million USD), with 10 billion won (around $10 million USD) being net profit.
YG Entertainment’s future seems smooth, as well. Starting this year, Big Bang and 2NE1 will be expanding from the Korean scene to Japan and the U.S., leading the Hallyu wave. YG will also be breaking their operating system of producing only few elite trainees and expand their horizon as they have signed contracts with Kang Seung Yoon from “Superstar K2″.
YG Entertainment also has a good history of never having any conflict regarding contract disputes with their celebrities. Top celebrities Big Bang and Se7en have extended their contract for an additional 5 years without raising any issues. This leads back to founder Yang Hyun-Seok’s business philosophy of putting the future and priority on the artists’ before the company.
In an interview with OSEN, founder Yang Hyun-Seok explained, “I’ve had countless offers to sell shares of my company through a backdoor listing, but I pushed them all away. I have no intention whatsoever of making profit through the stock market. My reason to have YG Entertainment listed publicly is because I accepted the management’s advice to make YG a transparent and global company“.
Another plus is that YG has always lead in philanthropy and good works. YG was the first Korean entertainment company to donate 500 million won (around $500,000) to Japan’s earthquake cause. YG entertainment has caught attention because they donated a large sum of money to Japan despite the fact that their artists’ promotion in Japan have been delayed due to the earthquake.
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