FORMER HYBE AMERICA CO-CEO RETURNS TO KOREA

TLDR: Yoon Seok-jun, CEO of HYBE America and founding member of HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), has returned to Korea after stepping down a year and a half ago. He is under a non-compete agreement until the end of the year and is expected to leave HYBE entirely afterward. His resignation was not officially announced by HYBE but was reported by Variety. Yoon played a significant role in HYBE's growth and the success of BTS. Scooter Braun is now the sole CEO of HYBE America and has shifted focus to support HYBE's chairman, Bang Si-hyuk. HYBE America posted a net loss of 142.4 billion won last year.

SOURCE: https://www.mk.co.kr/news/musics/11057356

Yoon Seok-jun, CEO of HYBE America and a founding member of HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), the agency behind BTS, has returned to Korea after a year and a half since stepping down from his position. There is now significant interest in his future plans.

According to a report by Maeil Kyungjae Star Today on the 3rd, CEO Yoon recently returned to Korea with his family. Since stepping down as CEO of HYBE America early last year, Yoon has not held any other positions within HYBE.

Music industry insiders say that Yoon is under a non-compete agreement until the end of this year, which prevents him from working in a competing industry. He is expected to leave HYBE entirely after this period. Star Today reached out to HYBE for comments on Yoon’s future, but the company did not respond.

Yoon's resignation as CEO of HYBE America was not officially announced by HYBE but was reported by local media in January of last year. Variety, an American entertainment outlet, reported that HYBE had transitioned to a sole CEO system for its U.S. subsidiary, now led by Scooter Braun.

Variety confirmed that Braun had previously served as co-CEO of HYBE America with Yoon Seok-jun but is now the sole CEO. HYBE has not commented on Yoon’s future role or the reason for his resignation.

Yoon is one of the founding members of Big Hit Entertainment, which launched BTS. He joined Big Hit Entertainment, founded by Bang Si-hyuk, in 2005 and became a strategic planning director in 2010, playing a significant role in the company’s growth. Yoon has been instrumental in discovering content and building platforms.

Since 2015, Yoon expanded the business as the head of the business planning office. From 2017, he focused on long-term opportunities such as the IP business and BTS’s world tours by strengthening global partnerships and networks.

Yoon served as CEO of Big Hit Entertainment in 2019, Global CEO in 2020, and CEO of HYBE America and HYBE Universal in 2021. In March 2021, Big Hit Entertainment was rebranded as HYBE, and its subsidiary became Big Hit Music.

In January 2022, Bang Si-hyuk, Scooter Braun, and Yoon Seok-jun were named on Billboard's '2022 Billboard Power List.' However, Yoon has not been mentioned officially since his resignation as co-CEO of HYBE America.

Scooter Braun, known for discovering Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, joined HYBE when it acquired his company, Ithaca Holdings, for 1 trillion won in April 2021. After parting ways with Bieber and Grande last year, Braun announced his retirement as a manager last month and said he would focus on supporting Bang Si-hyuk as CEO of HYBE America. HYBE America posted a net loss of 142.4 billion won last year.