Shares in YG Entertainment, the South Korean media giant, slumped over 13% on Thursday after three members of Blackpink, arguably the company’s biggest K-pop group, revealed they would not be renewing contracts with the company.
Bringing its world tour to a close this month, Blackpink’s Jisoo, Jennie and Lisa have all reportedly decided against signing a new contract with the company and are set to execute deals with other labels instead, reports from South Korean outlet Sports Seoul revealed.
All three of the members are supposedly in “last minute discussions with a ‘separate yet together’ strategy”, where they will sign to a new label but remain part of Blackpink for six months of the year, the Asian outlet added.
Last week, shares dropped around 3% after it was reported Lisa had rejected a US$37.6 million contract offer, coming just as the group was finishing off what had been considered the largest world tour by a K-pop girl group ever.
YG Entertainment remains up over 44% in 2023, despite falling to around 69,000 KRW – the lowest point since May.