Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind K-pop titans BTS, is worth over $1 billion in corporate value, according to a the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI).
The Korea Herald reported on Thursday (June 6) that the South Korean entertainment company is thought to be valued at between 1.28 trillion won ($1.08 billion) and 2.28 trillion won ($2.07 billion). Big Hit Entertainment has now earned the designation “unicorn company,” applied to privately held startups valued over $1 billion, because of how rare it is that a privately held startup reaches such high valuation.
If Big Hit Entertainment lands on the higher end of HRI’s estimate, the Seoul-based agency would rank higher than the original “Big 3” K-pop agencies: SM Entertainment (valued at 1.6 trillion won, or $1.3 billion), JYP (929.6 billion won, or approximately $788 million), and YG (580.5 billion won, or approximately $492 million).
Despite such valuation estimates, Big Hit Entertainment said it has no plans to go public.