HYBE vs SM vs JYP vs YG: By the Numbers

Revenue is the money a company takes in before costs. "Consolidated" means the figure includes every subsidiary: labels, fan platforms and overseas units.¹²³⁴

HYBE (하이브) reported ₩2,649.9 billion, up 17.5%. Its business report calls this the highest revenue since the company was founded.¹ SM Entertainment (에스엠) reported ₩1,174.9 billion, up 18.7% from ₩989.7 billion, and described the year as its best results ever.² JYP Entertainment reported ₩821.9 billion, up 36.6%, which it says is a company record.³⁶ YG Entertainment (와이지엔터테인먼트) reported ₩545.4 billion, up 49.4% from ₩364.9 billion in 2024. Its 2023 revenue had been ₩569.2 billion.⁴

Operating margin is operating profit as a share of revenue: how much of each ₩100 of sales is left after the costs of running the business.

HYBE's operating profit fell 73.2% to ₩49.3 billion, a margin of 1.9%. Its report gives three reasons: early investment to expand its global artist portfolio, the upfront costs of debuting new artists, and one-off costs from restructuring its North American business.¹ SM's operating profit more than doubled to ₩183.0 billion (a 15.6% margin).² JYP's rose 21.0% to ₩155.2 billion (18.9%).³ YG made ₩71.3 billion (13.1%), after an operating loss of ₩20.6 billion in 2024.⁴

Net profit is what is left after interest, tax and one-off items such as gains or write-downs on investments. In 2025 those items pulled the four companies' net results in different directions.

HYBE reported a consolidated net loss of ₩254.4 billion; the loss attributable to HYBE's own shareholders was ₩237.3 billion. Its other expenses came to ₩295.0 billion. They included ₩163.7 billion of impairments on intangible assets, ₩100.6 billion of it on goodwill tied to Ithaca Holdings, QC Media Holdings and Supertone, and a further ₩82.4 billion of impairments on investments in associates and joint ventures. An impairment is a write-down when an asset is judged to be worth less than its book value.¹

SM's net profit of ₩359.4 billion included a one-off gain of ₩228.2 billion. SM booked it when the fan-messaging platform DearU (디어유) became its subsidiary, and it revalued the DearU stake it already held at fair value.² JYP's ₩160.6 billion included a ₩73.2 billion gain from selling part of its own DearU stake, which fell from 18.05% to 10.00%.³ YG's net profit was ₩53.7 billion.⁴

HYBE's concert revenue, which includes fan meetings, rose 69.4% to ₩763.9 billion, from 279 shows.¹ In Billboard's 2025 year-end Boxscore, covering October 2024 to September 2025, HYBE ranked No. 4 among the world's promoters with $469.2 million in tour revenue. Coverage of that ranking named tours by j-hope (제이홉), SEVENTEEN (세븐틴) and ENHYPEN (엔하이픈).⁸

JYP's concert revenue rose 82.4% to ₩188.9 billion, a company record. JYP credited Stray Kids' (스트레이 키즈) world tour dominate, which ranked No. 10 on Billboard's Top Tours 2025.³⁶ YG's concert revenue rose 644% to ₩126.4 billion, from world tours by BABYMONSTER (베이비몬스터), TREASURE (트레저) and BLACKPINK (블랙핑크).⁴

SM's business report doesn't give a separate concert figure; it splits revenue into goods, products and services instead. SM credited its growth partly to global concert tours. Its report names albums and global tours by NCT DREAM and aespa (에스파), a 20th-anniversary world tour by SUPER JUNIOR (슈퍼주니어), a Japan tour by TVXQ! (동방신기) and NCT WISH's first solo concerts.²

HYBE's recorded-music revenue (albums and streaming) fell 10.2% to ₩773.0 billion. Merchandise and licensing rose 35.8% to ₩570.6 billion.¹ JYP's album revenue rose 35.4% to ₩206.6 billion and its streaming revenue fell 20.6% to ₩51.3 billion. Its merchandise revenue rose 42.1% to ₩188.5 billion.⁶ YG groups albums, digital content and merchandise together; that line rose 32% to ₩201.9 billion.⁴

SM's report says RIIZE's (라이즈) first full-length album sold more than a million copies, and that both of NCT WISH's 2025 mini albums did the same.²

Lee Soo-man (이수만) set up SM Studio in Seoul's Apgujeong neighbourhood in 1989.¹³ SM Entertainment was incorporated on February 14, 1995.² Yang Hyun-suk (양현석) debuted in 1992 as a member of Seo Taiji and Boys (서태지와 아이들). His company's official history begins in 1996 with its first act, Keep Six. YG Entertainment was incorporated in 1998.⁴⁹

J.Y. Park (박진영; real name Park Jin-young) has been active as a singer since 1992.¹⁴ His company began in 1997 as Tae-Hong Planning (태홍기획). In 2001 it was renamed JYP Entertainment, after his stage name.⁷¹¹ Producer Bang Si-hyuk (방시혁) founded Big Hit Entertainment.¹² It was incorporated on February 4, 2005, and renamed HYBE on March 30, 2021.¹

HYBE listed on October 15, 2020, on the KOSPI, the Korea Exchange's main market.¹ The other three trade on KOSDAQ, the exchange's market for growth companies.⁵ SM listed there on April 27, 2000, the first entertainment company on KOSDAQ.²¹⁰ YG listed on November 23, 2011.⁴ JYP took a different route. The unlisted JYP became the largest shareholder of a company already on KOSDAQ in December 2010, then merged into it in 2013. That listed company, now JYP Entertainment, had been on KOSDAQ since 2001.³⁷¹¹

Three of the four were still led on the share register by their founders at the end of 2025. Bang Si-hyuk held 30.86% of HYBE, Yang Hyun-suk 19.33% of YG and J.Y. Park 15.37% of JYP.¹³⁴ SM is the exception. HYBE became SM's largest shareholder on February 22, 2023, with 14.80%, after buying shares from Lee Soo-man. Kakao (카카오) took over that position through a tender offer on March 28, 2023, with 20.76%. At the end of 2025 Kakao held 21.61% and its subsidiary Kakao Entertainment 19.89%.²

The parent companies employed 893 people at HYBE, 765 at SM, 496 at JYP and 438 at YG, not counting staff at their subsidiaries.¹²³⁴ The number of subsidiaries in each group's consolidated accounts varies more: HYBE had 85, SM 38, YG 17 and JYP 11.¹²³⁴