The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Bit Hit shares slide after stellar IPO

By Kim Young-won

Published : Oct. 16, 2020 - 16:48

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(Yonhap) (Yonhap)


Share price of Big Hit Entertainment, an entertainment agency behind K-pop boy band BTS, slid for two straight days right after the high profile initial public offering Thursday.

The company’s stock price traded 19.77 percent lower at 207,000 won ($180.6) in intraday trading Friday. After soaring by 30 percent to 351,000 won on its Thursday debut on the main bourse Kospi, the stock closed at 258,000 won, down 4.4 percent from the opening price of 270,000 won. BTS’ offering price stood at 135,000 won.

Although other recently listed companies, including Kakao Games and SK Biopharmaceuticals, saw their stocks hit the 30 percent price ceiling for a couple of days, Big Hit did not keep up its momentum in the market.

Foreign investors net sold 207,400 shares, worth 59.3 billion won, on the first trading day, driving down the stock price.

“There is a question mark over whether Bit Hit can keep nurturing K-pop bands through well-established training systems like the big three -- JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment and SM Entertainment,” said an official in the financial industry.

More than 58.4 trillion won of deposits were poured in to buy Big Hit shares with the subscription rate coming in at 606.97:1 when the company went public.

Some investors have also raised concerns about limited revenue sources of Big Hit as the septet plays a crucial role for the company’s revenue stream. The group accounts for 90 percent of the agency’s entire revenue.

The BTS members have to start serving in the military from 2022 as non-disabled South Korean males are required to serve their military duties for some two years.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)