My understanding from the general press is that her plan was to have HYBE sell their shares by letting them think they could monetise on their investments while reducing their stake to a level where they’d still be the largest shareholder, i.e. that scenario assumes Hybe voluntarily sells, thinking they’re safe from any actual risk. It is unlikely that Hybe would have done that anyway as you said, so this accusation from Hybe just sounds suspicious to me.

Also, I’m not familiar with SK’s law, but how can management establish a subsidiary with outside investor money without Board approval? Are there any precedent for this? It doesn’t sound legal either.

I might be misunderstanding what you meant but plan A as you describe it doesn't make sense. She can't spin off ADOR if she sells her shares, she can only spin off if HYBE sells their shares in ADOR down to below 50%.

So what's going on is she's being accused of talking with PE firms to have HYBE sell part of their stake to them. My understanding is that those PE firms would have bought something like 30-35% of shares. Once she consolidates her 18% with those PE firms (and potentially the remaining 2% held by other executives), they could act in concert and spin off.

Still seems far-fetched to me though.

No shit they’re kpop 🙄

Your comments read like a wild exaggeration of how popular and respected kpop is. Yes there is a lot to do between being able to name kpop artists and your crazy assertion about how “the entire planet listens to kpop, it’s the key beloved form of pop music”. How can you love a genre if you can’t even identify it? 

American pop is by far the genre westerners interact with the most (radio, tv, social media, news, you name it) - im saying this as a non-US westerner. Anyone and their grandmother can identify 5+ lady gaga, Taylor swift or Ariana grande songs. There is a limit to how delusional you can be. 

Sure, awareness about kpop is miles above what it used to be in 2012. No, westerners have not acknowledged kpop as a mainstream genre, nor do they respect it.

Curious to know where you’re from. The average western listener “knows of” kpop, but doesn’t know or respect kpop… Among those who know of kpop, you’d hardly find anyone who can name a group other than BTS and maybe blackpink.

Sure you do. Just like I'm entitled to have this conversation with you because you weren't technically being hateful and sounded like you could understand where I'm coming from. I just don't get why you get so much joy from getting on that high horse of yours and act like it's weird for some people out there to enjoy performances you don't 🤷‍♀️ To each their own. Why not voice out your opinion without hurting other people's feelings?

Yeah there's a lot of people like you who'd easily write 10 comments per article to argue about how BP sucks and respond to fans who (predictably) will try to defend them. The toxicity here is off the charts

You know you're precisely incentivizing akp to post more useless BP articles right? They don't care about negative comments they just want engagement, and that's what you're giving them.

Are you talking about Macron's wife? Please tell me more. I'm French and a polisci grad :)

There's worse out there than "being used" for an event held to raise funds for a charity helping hospitalized kids lol

Well, the way your phrased your question didn't seem like you were expecting an answer but rather challenging the merit of this award. You're not wrong in saying they're useless, as they should be - only corrupt feudal states grant privileges.

Also quite disrespectful of you to call St Paul's cathedral, one of London's most famous landmarks, a "gloomy old church".

I'm not British or anything, but words carry meaning and weight, you can't just say whatever you please and expect to be excused for what you call harmless question.

You don't need to receive any award to be visa-exempt for travel to the UK as a NZ citizen lol

Do people realize these titles are used as tokens of appreciation? It's not the Middle Ages anymore, thank god you don't get actual privileges from them...

The disgusting comments you see on this website... Hope you're not one of those who cry about cyber bullying when something happens.

I responded to your comment regarding age restriction, which you seemed to be using to support the point that those are R-rated shows, which is not the case.

Those shows are sexy sure, sexual no.

In a sense, there arent any more sexual than the Korean waterbomb festivals.

I understand we come from very different cultures and the boundaries of what is acceptable or not between us might differ. My point is that people should keep an open mind, especially about cultures they don’t understand.

Honestly I’m not even trying to defend Lisa. She’s rich, successful, and has more than enough fans to make up for haters.

But you’re right i guess it was just an attempt to clarify things that was doomed from the very beginning. It’s a shame that people are so quick to jump to conclusions and to judge foreign cultures and customs

People who don’t bother looking up and understanding what they’re talking about should refrain from making assumptions.

The Crazy Horse is open to kids 10 years old or older and The Moulin Rouge 6 years old and older. Only reason they don’t go lower is that they don’t want babies crying mid performance.

I’m sure many more people get off from watching 20-something year olds kpop idols perform, so what does that mean?

It’s always funny to read people giving their uneducated opinion online. You have done 0 research about French culture and literally just deemed an entire pan of French culture unworthy of respect. These dancers / performers, or « strippers » as you would call them, are proud women who work tirelessly to come up with creative performances.

I’m French btw, I’m not talking out of my ass. Companies in France literally give out tickets to their employees for Christmas, like they’d give you tickets to watch standup comedy. I’m sure my parents would appreciate knowing someone out there thinks they watched a strip show lol

Honestly shame on you.

The difference is people don't go to cabarets to get off. This is a deeply rooted form of entertainment in French culture and you can find people of all ages and genders in there.

Success always attracts haters 🙃

Like 80% of this website's news feed. What content are you expecting when coming here?

This website literally makes articles out of rando fans' tweets.

Back in the early 2010s kpop fans were appreciative of the fact that kpop artists were getting recognition internationally even if it was not about their faves.

There are always strikes in France. It’s customary for the French First Lady to hold this specific charity event. Nothing surprising about the French President also attending. Having a picture with celebrities is a good way to raise awareness about this charity.

You talk as if you know me. How do you know I'm not making a fuss about human rights in other countries?
I guess you just chose to ignore my point, which is that it simply is NOT right to ignore something that's going wrong. There are just so many things that are wrong with this competition, from corruption involved in Qatar's selection, to how Qatar is handling the preparation from a human rights, LGBTQ and environmental point of view. The US (or any other country) is far from perfect, but I hope we can at least agree that being gay or criticizing your country's leaders won't get you jail time there. When you type World Cup on google, all you get is negative headlines. No matter what your stance is on important issues, there's just nothing good about being involved with this world cup. I know I won't convince you - I just hope people can decide for themselves what they want to support knowing all that it implies.

Since when have the UN and WHO become moral compasses? Have you heard of a UN intern having to sleep in a tent in Geneva because his unpaid internship made him unable to afford proper accommodation? These are institutions influenced by geopolitics and their decisions are driven by their own agenda

Why care about Qatar if you don't care about Israel? Why care about Israel if you don't care about Iran? Why care about Iran if you don't care about North Korea? >>>>> Why care about human rights at all? >>>>> Why care about any issue that's going on in the world?
Some people just have a tiny little bit more morals than you. No wonder people don't take kpop fans seriously when you see blind fangirls crying as soon as one questions business decisions related to their bias.

We don’t disagree here, I’d invite everyone to educate themselves about what they are supporting or denouncing, which is why it’s all the more important to let people know that these are topics that exist 🙂unfortunately, most people choose to ignore things they don’t want to know about. 

My age also doesn't matter at all. I guess my point in the end is just to say that yes we love celebrities and such, but that doesn't mean we should not question things that clash with our values and be vocal about them.

My point is that a contract no matter what it is CAN be broken, and yes there are losses - it's all about whether you are willing to forego some cash to prioritize things that matter. And yes it is naive to think that companies are not money-driven, but that's why we fans have to weigh in to make the potential loss in revenues from fan weigh greater than that of the loss of sponsor money. If everyone had a similar mindset to yours, then inaction and status quo would rule this world without any hope for betterment. I'm not saying I'm a perfect example, but I'm glad there are people out there that have to resigned themselves to environmental fatality and +2.5 degrees Celsius by mid-century.

As for the footballers, they are their own boss for some matters and not for all. That's why the Mbappe is in a conflict with the French Football Federation over Coca Cola and Uber Eats sponsorships and has refused to take part in their promotional activities with the rest of the team. And he will be facing the consequences - if he was not the French team's star believe he'd be out by now. But just like the Kpop idols we're talking about (I'm not saying smaller company idols), they are prominent enough to be able to weigh on their companies' decisions. Also reminding you that some if not all BTS members have shares in HYBE. Again, I know this is not an easy decision, but everyone has their own share of responsibility: FIFA, Qatar, LVMH, agencies, idols, fans. 

Just to clarify, some of the negative comments I see here might be from haters, but it'd be very reductive to consider that all negative comments come from a place of hate for BTS or for anyone at all, but rather of disapproval for an organization, which is the FIFA and the Qatari authorities who organized the competition.

So you protested against this and just gave up and accepted the outcome because you saw no results? Fine by me, that's your choice. But I don't believe that gives you the right to criticize people who came to another conclusion - I am personally boycotting this world cup and god knows I love watching it with friends and family. Since you're a big football fan, you'd know Saudi Arabia is trying to host the 2030 World Cup - they're not well-known for their regard for human rights either, so maybe being critical would make FIFA officials more mindful of their choice this time.

BTS might not have a say, but their company does, and companies will only react to what fans say. So if fans are fine with it, things won't change. And I'm not saying this just for HYBE, that also applies to Blackpink endorsing LVMH brands, which have shady supply chain policies with regards to both human rights en environmental policies (e.g. leather factories in Italy exploiting illegal African immigrants). This is coming from a Blackpink fan and longstanding follower of YG artists. Sometimes, you don't need to know 100% of things to recognize that the outcome is far from ideal.

To stay on the topic of football, Mbappe is in a conflict with the French football association who is sponsored by Coca Cola because he doesn't want to promote unhealthy sodas. Griezmann broke his contract with Huawei because he disapproved China's treatment of Uyghurs. They had contracts and penalties but they chose to make the hard choice. And they also chose to compete in Qatar. There is a choice, however difficult it may be.

P.S. I'm probably on the older side on this website lol

Lol why does it matter how long you've known it for? If you really want to make it a point I've known it ever since Qatar was picked, since this was a headline in France because Qatar bribed FIFA officials including French officials to get picked. But it really isn't relevant at all.

There's a difference between actively promoting something and not acting against it...

I think most people get that the BTS boys don't always have a say in what they have to work for, but that doesn't mean you as a person shouldn't think critically about topics that matter.