Can you imagine JYP Entertainment without Wonder Girls? JYP Entertainment recently merged with JYP, a private corporation of Park Jin Young. Financially speaking, JYP Entertainment was only half a company prior to the merge, due to the fact that artists were signed over two different companies, JYP Entertainment and JYP. JYP Entertainment has contracts with singer/producer Park Jin Young and Miss-A. JYP had contracts with 2PM, Wonder Girls, and 2AM, but all their contracts merged under JYP Entertainment as the two companies become one. JYP Entertainment's "ONE JYP" announcement in the investor's meeting solidified this notion.

By merging into one giant entertainment company, JYP Entertainment is now ready to compete with SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment. JYP Entertainment's goal profit next year has been set to $51.8 million. SM and YG Entertainment have set their goal profit at $156.8 million and $99.1 million, respectively. JYP Entertainment is looking into not only managing their stars but also producing dramas, movies, and musicals in order to expand within the industry.

One of the biggest thorns of this new JYP Entertainment's side is the upcoming contract of their superstar girl group Wonder Girls. Because they are still under the old contract, at least 60% of the revenues that Wonder Girls generate go to the company. If they were to renegotiate the contract with Wonder Girls, they would need to readjust the dividends; this is not something that JYP Entertainment is looking forward to doing. However, Wonder Girls have cemented their status as superstars in the Korean Pop market with hits such as "Tell Me," "So Hot," and "Nobody."

A big stumbling block to their contract negotiations is that four of the five members have different expiration dates for their contracts. Sohee and Sun's contracts expire on December 21st. Yenny's contract expires in January next year, followed by Yubin, whose contract expires in September of 2014. Hyelim, the latest addition to Wonder Girls after Sunmi left the group, has a contract that does not expire until early 2015.

Of course, the revenue that Wonder Girls bring to the company cannot be ignored. It is not an overstatement to say that Wonder Girls single-handedly raised JYP from a mid-sized company to a corporation status. In 2010, Wonder Girls generated $5 million dollars for JYP, which was a quarter of their yearly revenue. In 2011 they generated $1.58 million, which accounted for 9.55% of JYP's yearly revenue, and in 2012 they generated $3.9 million, which accounted for 16.54% of the yearly revenue. When one considers the fact that the three years prior to 2010 was when Wonder Girls were in their prime, it's not difficult to estimate that some 50% or more of JYP's yearly revenues were earned by Wonder Girls during JYP's formative years.

JYP Entertainment acknowledges the importance of Wonder Girls as revenue generating megastars. They were quick to defend the low revenue generated by Wonder Girls in 2011 by stating that Wonder Girls' lack of Korean presence was the contributing factor to the low numbers, but Wonder Girls were busy preparing for their US debut later that year.

Though the revenue generated by Wonder Girls is undeniable proof of their importance to JYP Entertainment, they, too, lost millions of dollars for JYP when they failed to make a successful US debut in 2011. JYP Entertainment Corporation, a U.S.-based entertainment firm solely established for the sake of promoting JYP artists, took a severe hit due to Wonder Girls' US flop. They have not posted a profit since.

JYP Entertainment made it clear that no talk of renegotiation has been started by either JYP Entertainment or Wonder Girls. The rumor mill has started to turn on the seemingly impending breakup of Wonder Girls, wondering if any of them will debut as solo artists. JYP Entertainment has stated that the talks will begin "naturally" as the time comes. Wonder Girls and JYP might be at an impasse, and it will be the first hurdle for the new JYP Entertainment to clear.

Photo credit: Chosun DB