South Korean stocks have had a rocky start to the year but one entertainment company is getting a big boost. JYP Entertainment Corp. -- the agency representing the popular ‘Twice’ girl group -- rose 22 percent this week, boosting its market capitalization to 552 billion won ($516 million). The company overtook YG Entertainment Inc. to become No. 2 among the ‘Big 3’ entertainment agencies in Korea. S.M. Entertainment Co. leads with a value of 829 billion won.
Investors are eyeing JYP mainly because of the success of the girl group Twice and new boy group Stray Kids. Both seem to be doing extremely well these days. Twice has spread its popularity overseas, most notably in Japan. They also took many awards in the recent awards shows that have been going on this past month.
Stray Kids is the first Kpop group to succeed so immensely, with their pre-debut-release garnering a lot of attention international K-pop watchers. Their album, Mixtape, appeared in the top 15 of the US iTunes album chart within a day of its release. It also placed second on Billboard’s World Album chart for the week of Jan. 20.
Seems like JYP is a solid investment!