Rumor Article says Hybe disbanded Gfriend with claims they weren't profitable (1 Viewer)

[Abeamus]

Wouldn't think much of articles like this usually but this being released after Source Music lost the rights to Gfriends name is pretty suspicious and almost all of Gfriends merchandise was sold out on Weverse except for a Lightstick case also that Source Music was investing into more than just Gfriend since they had trainees as well.

"Even after it was acquired by HYBE, the net loss figure was about 2.3 billion won in 2020. It was the aftermath of GFRIEND’s poor performance in album and concert sales. HYBE eventually disbanded GFRIEND and Source Music was given the task of fostering the next generation girl group on the behalf of HYBE Labels."

Source

@Buddy ​

 

[RandAlThor]

This makes little sense.

the concerts were sold out, so if they lost money that is on the agency.
And they did a steady 80k albums per cb with reasonable digital. W nights did worse but that had some neg buzz over the name if i remember correctly.
its not like sales dropped massively they preformed exactly as they had been for most of the run.
it was enough before to put both the girls and the agency in the black.

 

[Willow]

Weird

 

[Soogi]

i don't know about gfriend, but i'm very sure that's what happened with nu'est. it wouldn't surprise me if hybe played a major role in gfriend's disbandment too tbh

 

[OnlyCalB]

Stats from concert + albums sales suggest Gfriend was successful/making money. So if GF weren't "profitable" then I'd like to know where the money they made went...

 

[Exi]

Stats from concert + albums sales suggest Gfriend was successful/making money. So if GF weren't "profitable" then I'd like to know where the money they made went...

Maybe their definition of profitable is different because of how Hybe’s main groups sell hundreds of thousands of albums (albeit mostly due to multiple album versions and major bulk buying) and stuff

 

[Abeamus]

This makes little sense.

the concerts were sold out, so if they lost money that is on the agency.
And they did a steady 80k albums per cb with reasonable digital. W nights did worse but that had some neg buzz over the name if i remember correctly.
its not like sales dropped massively they preformed exactly as they had been for most of the run.
it was enough before to put both the girls and the agency in the black.

Yeah this is very confusing and the article talks about Source Music running at a loss in 2019 then brings Hybe in after that while Hybe acquired Source Music almost right after Fever which did not happen overnight so who knows what went into that.

Gfriend themselves also upgraded their dorm in 2017 which was pretty much their weakest year so anything that lost Source Music money must have came from other areas of the company or they were grossly overspending on Gfriend and hoping for unrealistic results in return.

 

[Puddles]

Maybe their definition of profitable is different because of how Hybe’s main groups sell hundreds of thousands of albums (albeit mostly due to multiple album versions and major bulk buying) and stuff

I very much imagine this to be true. Companies with shareholders don’t care about simply making money, they care about making money as cheaply as possible (I.e profit margin), and if GFriend was a comparably low-seller it doesn’t matter if they’re breaking even (or even selling well) they can still lower the company’s overall profit margins and make it look worse in the eyes of shareholders (which could cause the price of shares to drop and the company overall lose a lot of its value).

Therefore, dropping a relatively low seller with poor profit margins can make the company look healthier overall and is considered a smart move (although it sucks for the girls)

 

[Abeamus]

I very much imagine this to be true. Companies with shareholders don’t care about simply making money, they care about making money as cheaply as possible (I.e profit margin), and if GFriend was a comparably low-seller it doesn’t matter if they’re breaking even (or even selling well) they can still lower the company’s overall profit margins and make it look worse in the eyes of shareholders (which could cause the price of shares to drop and the company overall lose a lot of its value).

Therefore, dropping a relatively low seller with poor profit margins can make the company look healthier overall and is considered a smart move (although it sucks for the girls)

The bigger issue with the piece is both the part about Hybe themselves disbanding Gfriend and it due to being unhappy with their performance has not come up before outside of fan thoughts so where did the article get this information to post it as facts?

The first answer would be from Hybe which given the recent trademark loss for Source Music would make it a questionable article that could just be made to devalue Gfriend as saying they weren't profitable at all would hurt their brand.