HYBE CEO Addresses Legal Conflicts and Company Unity Amid Ongoing Disputes

HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang addressed the company’s ongoing legal conflicts with former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin during a town hall meeting with employees on Monday, according to local media reports. Lee assured employees that HYBE is taking “principled and reasonable measures” to handle these issues.

Lee acknowledged the disputes involving the company’s labels, ADOR and Belift Lab, and their artists, stating that these matters would be gradually resolved. He encouraged employees to remain patient and supportive, urging them to “trust and watch” as the company works through the challenges.

Emphasizing the importance of unity within the organization, Lee highlighted the need for everyone to stand together as “Team HYBE” during this period of public scrutiny. His comments came as tensions surrounding the ongoing disputes between ADOR’s former CEO Min Hee-jin, current CEO Kim Ju-young, and HYBE artists, including NewJeans and ILLIT, continued to make headlines.

In a particularly public incident, the five members of NewJeans expressed their dissatisfaction during a YouTube livestream on September 11, calling for Min Hee-jin’s reinstatement as CEO of ADOR. During the broadcast, group member Hanni recounted an experience at the HYBE building, where she claimed to have overheard a manager instructing other artists to ignore her.

Hanni explained that after greeting a manager and other HYBE artists, the manager told them to “ignore” her, an incident she said she still found perplexing. Following this, NewJeans and their parents requested access to CCTV footage of the incident, but HYBE denied the request, citing that the footage had been deleted due to storage limitations.

Hanni later testified about the incident, along with other concerns regarding the treatment of HYBE artists, at the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee on Tuesday.

In a separate financial development, HYBE announced on Tuesday that it would issue 400 billion won ($293 million) in convertible bonds to fund the redemption of an earlier bond nearing its put option date. CEO Lee reassured employees about the company’s financial health, stating that HYBE had 1.2 trillion won in available cash.

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