Following reports that YG paid BLACKPINK a whopping amount of $31M to renew their group contracts, the label clarified claims by saying THIS.

A financial report of YG has been spreading online, containing the assets and expenses they had in 2023. Seeing this, netizens deduced that the label most likely paid the quartet - Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa $7.5 million as a down payment for them to renew their contract as a group.

In light of this, YG Entertainment released its official side.

K-Netz Claim YG Paid BLACKPINK $31M to Renew Group Contracts

In particular, this speculation sparked when the Financial Supervisory Service released the business report for YG Entertainment on March 21.

In this report, the total amount that YG label acquired for renewing contracts costs 41.185 billion KRW (30.9 million USD).

This advance payment (down payment) was made in 2023 and looking back on last year, YG has no significant recruitment aside from BLACKPINK who renewed their group contracts and its new agreements with its rookie artist, BABYMONSTER.

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In December 2023, YG Entertainment signed a group exclusive contract with the quartet and it is interpreted that most of the down payment amounts exceeding $30M were spent for BLACKPINK alone.

YG Responds to Rumor About BLACKPINK's Contract Renewal Down Payment

When these claims circulated online and were also picked up by the Korean media, YG made its statement about this and clarified:

"Last year, there were renewals and new contracts for multiple IPs as well, not only for BLACKPINK. We cannot disclose all the details of the contract, but the amount (41.2 billion KRW) cannot be viewed as a down payment only for BLACKPINK."

As a follow-up information, the media then further claimed that at most, BLACKPINK might have received 10 billion KRW ($7.5M) each.

Maeil Business Newspaper speculated:

"Considering the size of the exclusive contract fee of approximately 41.2 billion won ($30M), it is estimated that even if other IP contracts were included, the contract with BLACKPINK members, whose ransom is overwhelmingly high, would have been close to 10 billion won ($7.5M) each."

Chosun Ilbo supported this, adding:

"In 2022, the amount of intangible assets acquired by YG equivalent to the exclusive contract deposit is only 10 million won. ($7.5k). In just one year, more than 400 times more money was spent on the exclusive contract (after BLACKPINK)."

Investing a huge sum of money in group activities, YG also teased its groups' future plan, saying:

"BABYMONSTER will be active with its official debut in April, and TREASURE will continue to grow by expanding its activity stage beyond Japan to Asia. We are also preparing plans for BLACKPINK's group activities."

READ MORE: BLACKPINK Future in Jeopardy? A Year Without Group Activities Looms — Industry Report

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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz