Photo: BTS. Credit: United Nations.
The world-beating K-pop idols are not only musical sensations, but also a phenomenal investment. In 2018, the National Pension Service 국민연금, South Korea’s pension fund, invested in the pre-IPO shares of HYBE 하이브, BTS’s production company that was at the time called BigHit Entertainment.
With an investment of KRW 31.2b (USD 27m), the NPS earned a strong return of KRW 282b (USD 240m), or 8.9x, in a little less than three years.