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The cover of Time magazine, featuring BTS and Bang Si-hyuk, the chairperson of Hybe. (from Time’s Twitter page)

Korean boy group BTS and Hybe Chairman Bang Si-Hyuk graced the cover of this week’s Time magazine.

“HYBE and Bang Si-hyuk Are Transforming the Music Business—With a Little Help From BTS,” the magazine’s March 30 cover story reads, while also referring to the group as the “best of pop.” The cover shot shows Bang surrounded by the seven members of BTS.

Despite the difficult circumstances caused by the pandemic, BTS still thrived, Time said, praising Hybe for being the force behind the group’s major success.

The article said Hybe “has grown from a small artist incubator […] into [a business] that owns and operates a catalog of intellectual properties (IPs),” while noting the company is valued at $9.5 billion today.

The article also cited Hybe’s acquisition of US-based media company Ithaca Holdings, its plans to pursue building an NFT (nonfungible tokens that exist on the blockchain) exchange of its own, and its operation of Weverse, a fan-to-artist social media app with nearly 7 million monthly users, as examples of the company’s diverse business ventures.

In a video interview with Time, Suga said Hybe’s “entrance into the global market is what makes it recognizably different from other entertainment and management companies in Korea.”

Regarding the pandemic and how this affected their music, RM told Time, “The idea was to release new music to console people and heal their minds through our music during these hard times, when it’s difficult to physically meet and interact.” The results were ‘Dynamite,’ ‘Butter,’ ‘Permission to Dance,’” he said.

BTS was named Time’s 2020 Entertainer of the Year and had appeared on the cover of Time before that, in 2018.

By Jung Hyuk-june, staff reporter

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