IPO of Superstars BTS Parent Proves to be Less Than ‘Dynamite’

Big Hit Entertainment Co.’s IPO isn’t quite the chart-topper investors had expected. The company behind K-pop superstars BTS has raised $830 million in the country’s largest IPO this year. Individual investors, however, took up just 607 times the shares on offer, well below the 1,524 times subscription on Kakao Games Corp.’s listing last month.

That Big Hit managed to price at the top of the price range shouldn’t be surprising. BTS, the band behind the hit song “Dynamite,” is one of Korea’s biggest exports, doing well this year even as Covid-19 canceled many of its concerts. An online concert held by the band in June drew in more than 750,000 viewers in the world’s biggest paid online music event, the Yonhap News Agency reported.