HYBE is becoming a truly global entertainment giant.
Over the past few years, the South Korea-born K-Pop firm has expanded into Japan, followed by the United States and, most recently, Latin America.
But the company’s global ambitions clearly don’t stop there.
In a letter to its shareholders last summer, HYBE hinted at expanding into emerging markets.
In that letter, detailing HYBE’s 2.0 strategy rollout, the company told its shareholders that, to “further solidify HYBE’s identity as a leading IP-based content company, we are focusing on enhancing our content production capabilities and uncovering new fan desires to proactively enter emerging markets.”
The big question is, where in the world is HYBE planning to expand to next?
The answer may have arrived via a recent story published by South Korean news agency Yonhap, which, citing sources in the investment community, reported that HYBE is planning to establish an office in Mumbai, India.
According to the report, HYBE is preparing to make a “full-fledged entry into the Indian entertainment market starting with a local office”.
MBW reached out to HYBE for a comment about the plans, and a spokesperson told us in a statement over email that, “while HYBE is not currently in the stage of making concrete plans to establish a local office, we regularly conduct market research across countries and regions.”
“we regularly conduct market research across countries and regions.”
HYBE spokesperson
HYBE’s reported plans to expand its reach into India arrive at a time of heightened M&A activity in the market.
Just this week, Reservoir Media’s newly established Mumbai subsidiary, PopIndia, struck its first catalog deal in the market with Musicraft Entertainment, less than a month after its launch in India
In March, a JV between Primary Wave and Times Music that launched in 2023, and reported to be worth $100 million, acquired two companies in India.
Other recent deals have included Warner Music‘s minority investment in live entertainment and ticketing platform SkillBox, and its acquisition of artist management and live events company E-Positive.
Universal Music India (UMI) also recently took a majority stake in Indian music and entertainment company TM Ventures, while Sony Music acquired a major catalog in India from Eros.
Believe, meanwhile, acquired what it calls a “Punjabi powerhouse” catalog from India-based White Hill Music in January 2024.
Could a potential acquisition be on the cards for HYBE in the Indian market, replicating its strategy of buying local companies and expanding into markets such as the US and Latin America?
HYBE entered into the Latin Music market in 2023 via the acquisition of Exile Music, an affiliate label of Spanish-language entertainment studio Exile Content.
Since then, the company has expanded its presence in the market through initiatives such as its partnership with Spanish-language television network Telemundo to launch Pase a la Fama.
HYBE’s most notable M&A move in recent years, however, was the $1 billion-plus acquisition of Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in the US, in 2021.
And in February 2023, HYBE America, led by Scooter Braun, acquired Atlanta rap powerhouse QC Media Holdings aka Quality Control, home to acts such as Lil Baby, Migos, Lil Yachty and City Girls, in a deal was worth $300 million, according to Korean regulator filings.
Elsewhere in the US, MBW broke the news in March that HYBE has acquired Santa Monica-based ‘events concierge’ company Confirmed360, which has been linked to arranging VIP experiences at concerts by superstars from Taylor Swift to Justin Timberlake.
HYBE recently achieved its highest-ever first-quarter revenue haul, surpassing the 500 billion South Korean won mark in the three months to the end of March.
HYBE reported KRW 500.6 billion (approx. USD $348.4 million at current exchange rates) in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday (April 29), a 38.7% jump from KRW 360.9 billion ($251m) last year.
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