HYBE, the South Korean-origin K-pop giant which is now keen on establishing its global chapters, has announced its quarterly earnings. On Monday, the company behind the much-loved sensation BTS revealed that it had posted its record quarterly revenue.
The multi-branched entertainment banner’s Q3 revenue of this year was 727.2 billion Korean won ($518.6 million), indicating a 37.8% boost from where the numbers stood a year earlier during the same period. And so, the revenue recorded in Q3 2025 was significantly higher than the previous record HYBE set with its Q4 2024 posting of 726.4 billion Korean won.
What aided HYBE’s record-high quarterly revenue standing?
Officials hailed its consolidated sales, which reached 2 trillion Korean won ($1.37 billion), throughout the quarter, and held them responsible for its highest-ever quarterly revenue posting.
Music sales, world tours, live events and advertisements (collectively clubbed together as “artist direct involvement revenue”) helped the company achieve 477.4 billion won ($340.6 million), which accounted for 66% of the overall sales recorded. This particular segment witnessed a nearly 48% surge from where it stood last year.
BTS member Jin, SEVENTEEN and TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT) particularly soared on top in terms of aiding the company’s revenue posting through concert earnings. However, that didn’t necessarily pave the way for a profitable quarter.
Concerts vs album releases: Concert revenue remained the biggest winner, reaching 245 billion Korean won ($175 million), giving way to an over 200% rise from before. Jin’s debut solo tour–spanning the US, Japan, England and more–particularly helped this segment’s upward progress. However, revenue from recorded music releases dropped to 189.8 billion Korean won ($135.4 million) as opposed to having brought in 214.5 billion Korean won in 2024.
Even the company’s superfan platform Weverse contributed to a positive swing, all thanks to advertisements and digital membership, as per the Korea Herald.
BTS agency’s still unprofitable quarter explored
Despite the landmark feat, the BTS agency went on to suffer an operating loss of 42.2 billion Korean won (negative $30 million) in the fourth quarter of this year. The same was attributed to higher income taxes and HYBE’s recorded music business, which sunk 11.5% from last year due to lesser new album releases, according to Billboard’s report.
Expansion of global intellectual property (IP) and and HYBE’s North American operation restructuring resulted in negative 12% points. Currently, the IP growth is attributed to the multiple debuts of new-age music acts, including Cortis in South Korea, Santos Bravos and Musza in Latin America, and upcoming Destino and Low Clika.
Meanwhile, initial stage marketing and content production accounted for a 6-percent-point drop in operating margin.
HYBE maintains positive outlook for the future: BTS comeback awaited
In spite of the several negatives it recorded this past quarter, HYBE affirmatively stood by the “expansion of global fandoms and revenue base stabilisation,” envisioning better results in the long term.
“Our K-pop division, the core of Hybe, is expected to maintain 10 to 15 percent profitability this year, indicating strong fundamentals,” said HYBE CEO Lee Jae Sang, as per the Korea Herald.
As for where their hopes for 2026 stand, the K-pop behemoth is positively looking forward to a phase of intensified “profitability recovery,” owing to BTS’ highly anticipated comeback era following the conclusion of each member’s respective military stints.