BTS members/Courtesy of BigHit Entertainment

Share prices of KeyEast, Netmarble rise

The successful comeback of K-pop megastar BTS benefits Korean companies, which have something to do with the seven-member boy band that dropped its mini album “Map of the Soul: Persona” on April 12.

The seven-track album’s lead track of “Boy With Luv” racked up 100 million YouTube views in less than 38 hours to renew the all-time record of the video-sharing platform in 14 years.

And the septet topped iTunes charts across the world and is also set to go straight into No. 1 in the Billboard 200 albums chart, which will be officially announced on April 21.

Included in the beneficiaries are KeyEast and Netmarble.

The former, which is a management agency founded by actor Bae Yong-joon, gained more than 30 percent in the Seoul bourse after the release of the BTS album.

The outfit’s subsidiary of SMC, formerly Digital Adventure, is in charge of managing Japanese fan clubs of BTS.

Netmarble, the second-largest shareholder of BigHit Entertainment that debuted BTS in 2013, also rose 2.7 percent this week.

The Seoul-based game publisher, which spent around $190 million to buy a 25.71 percent stake in BigHit, is also developing an online simulation game featuring more than 10,000 photos and 100 story videos of the group members.

The much-anticipated game, named “BTS World,” is expected to come to town during the first half of this year.

Not all companies related to BTS fare well in the stock market as demonstrated by DPC, which shed more than 7 percent this week.

The electronics parts maker has an affiliate called Stic Investments, which is the third-largest shareholder of BigHit.

The private-equity fund with assets under management of over $3 billion gobbled up a 12.24 percent stake in BigHit last year.

 

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