An alleged report is going viral on X (former Twitter), claiming that BTS members have become the fifth largest shareholder in HYBE. However, the claims were presented without any sources cited or statistics revealed, leaving many in doubt about their validity.
The “report” claimed that the BTS members own 1.1% of the total HYBE shares, making them the fifth largest shareholder since they will exercise their votes as one. It also claimed that each BTS member’s individual share was more than any CEO of HYBE’s subsidiaries.
BTS has acquired a significant stake in HYBE, becoming the company’s 5th largest shareholder.
— Collectively, the members own 1.1% of HYBE’s shares. Notably, each BTS member individually holds more shares than the CEOs of HYBE’s subsidiaries. pic.twitter.com/P3xS0HAdYK
— Pop Core (@TheePopCore) February 26, 2025
However, publicly available data might not fully support these claims. According to the numbers provided on HYBE’s own website, the four major shareholders of the company are Bang Si Hyuk (31.6%), Netmarble(12.1%), The National Pension Service of Korea (8.2%), and Dunamu Inc (5.5%). Another 5.7% has been collectively attributed to “others.”
The ownership distribution of HYBE is provided in more detail on financial websites, including Bloomberg. These sources show that the fifth largest shareholder in the company is Scooter Braun, the much-controversial CEO of HYBE America. This renders the claim of BTS members individually owning more shares than any HYBE subsidiary CEO untrue.
The publicly available numbers also show that Jungkook is among the top 10 shareholders with 68,385 shares, making his stake 0.16%. Now, these shares were gifted to him, as well as the other BTS members, by Bang Si Hyuk in 2020 when HYBE went public. BTS’s collective 1.1% stake would only be possible if all seven members held onto all the shares that they were given in 2020. But in 2021, it was revealed that Jin, RM, and J-Hope sold some of their shares.
According to HYBE’s 2021 “Stock Holding Changes Report,” Jin sold 16,000 shares, RM sold 10,385 shares, and J-Hope sold 5,601 shares. So, according to the available data, all seven BTS members do not seem to be holding the same amount of shares anymore. So, the claim of their collective ownership being 1.1% is unverified at best, if not completely incorrect.
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