How a lot cash will South Korea lose from BTS navy service?

Followers of Ok-pop band BTS have been left heartbroken on Monday when it was introduced the group’s members have been set to serve within the South Korean navy, that means no new excursions or music for a number of years.

Nevertheless, the seven members’ conscription—which Seoul allowed them to defer in 2020—might additionally include an financial value.

Since releasing their first album 9 years in the past, the Grammy-nominated boyband—comprised of members RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook—has confirmed its worth as an financial powerhouse in addition to a triumph of the leisure business.

By the numbers

In 2018, researchers on the Hyundai Analysis Institute mentioned BTS have been contributing greater than $3.6 billion to the South Korean financial system yearly—equal to the contribution of 26 mid-sized firms.

Researchers additionally mentioned the boyband introduced in a single in each 13 vacationers who visited South Korea in 2017, and generated an estimated $1.1 billion from client items exports like merchandise and cosmetics in a single 12 months.

Between 2014 and 2023, analysts projected BTS would have contributed $29.1 trillion to the South Korean financial system.

The band’s business success has additionally lined the pockets of its members. Collectively, BTS had a internet price of $50 million by 2020, in keeping with Forbes.

BTS and the markets

In addition to contributing wealth to South Korea, the group has confirmed its means to rock the nation’s monetary markets.

BTS’s hiatus announcement again in June noticed shares of its administration firm HYBE shed 1 / 4 of their worth, with the inventory falling to its lowest for the reason that firm went public two years earlier.

Information of the band members’ navy conscription on Monday despatched shares of HYBE 2.5% decrease.

The band, which was the primary Ok-pop group to achieve no. 1 on the Billboard 200, mentioned in an announcement launched by label Massive Hit Music on Monday that its members have been “honored to serve” their nation and would reconvene as a bunch “round 2025.”

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Originally published at Irvine News HQ