YG Entertainment Makes Record-Breaking Revenue
YG Entertainment finally broke the 300 billion KRW revenue thresholds after revealing its financial statements for the fiscal year of 2016. The entertainment company's revenue for the past year reached 321.8 billion KRW ($284 million USD), which is 66.66 percent increase from 2015 with 193.1 billion KRW ($170.7 million USD). Its operating profit also jumped 46.34 percent up from 21.8 billion KRW ($19 million USD) in 2015 to 31.9 billion KRW ($28.2 million USD) in 2016.
A company representative attributed the increase to the YG artists, which are also some of Korea's biggest K-Pop stars. "With artists like Big Bang and iKON having an increased workload overseas there was an increase in revenue, it depends mostly on their activities," allkpop quoted the company official as saying. The representative also didn't forget to include YG PLUS, its advertising and sales promotion agency, and said that, "The new artist and new media division also experienced successful revenue from sales."
YG's net income, however, saw a 41.2 percent dip with 14.1 billion KRW ($12.4 million USD) in 2016 from 27.9 billion KRW ($24.6 million USD) in 2015. The official explained that soaring corporation and foreign taxes caused the huge decrease on the company's net income. They will also slash a total dividend payout of 35.448 billion KRW ($31.37 million USD) as their shareholders will receive per share dividends of 200 KRW ($0.18). A shareholders meeting is slated March 24. Big Bang's recent announcement for another Japan dome tour in May following their recent tours only a few months ago made some people wonder if they're just doing them for profit.
The company's founder and CEO Yang Hyun Suk plans to venture on TV show productions soon. At least 10 PDs and two to three assistant directors are expected to be on board. Photos of a new YG building design have also cropped up the internet. The new building design looked much bigger and more luxurious with nine stories and a five story underground parking lot but will still be built next the original building in Mapo-gu, Seoul.