Some things you should know:
In S. Korea, “scandals” from the kpop industry are used to cover up for political turmoil in the government. (e.g. GD’s scandal, Bom’s scandal, other dating scandals, etc.)
Based from CL, Dara and Taehyun’s letter, it’s safe to say that the decision was not theirs.
Before you start blaming Yang Hyun Suk, know that Yang Hyun Suk has not been the CEO of YG Entertainment since 2001. Since GD was 13 years old. He’s only the face of the company, not the one making the decisions.
YHS’s role is Executive Music Producer. This means that all he does is produce music and looks over artists’ training and performances. That’s about it.
His brother, Yang Min Suk is the CEO of YG Entertainment. He’s the one in charge of managing the company.
However, 2NE1’s disbandment and Taehyun’s departure does not depend on their decision. It depends on YG Entertainment’s Board of Directors. All decisions about management and financial issues goes through the Board.
The fact that 2NE1 was preparing for a comeback clearly shows that YHS gave them the go signal. The fact that Taehyun was given a hiatus until he finds the right time to produce music again, clearly shows that YHS does not want any of his artists leaving/disbanding. He can be annoying and difficult music production-wise and yeah even personality-wise, but he’s not stupid to drop two things at once. He’s a hiatus person, not a disbandment person.
YHS and his brother only own 23% (the CEO with only 3.9%) of the company and 77% goes to various investors and shareholders. This includes various companies and some YG artists. Since the brothers only own a small percentage, they can’t decide on their own like what they did back in 2009-2011 - unless they own more than 50% of the shares.
Older YG stans and VIPs will most likely notice, but management started going downhill since 2014. That’s because with BIGBANG’s success, more and more huge investors came and now the brothers have to compromise with them whenever a decision is needed.
I’ve seen the “favoritism” argument being thrown around. The truth is: NO ONE IS SAFE UNDER POOR MANAGEMENT. Not even BIGBANG. BIGBANG was about to be disbanded in 2011 (pretty much due to all the scandals) but got saved because of their win at MTV EMA (thanks to the VIPs). So don’t ever think BIGBANG had it easy. Also if they were “protected” then why are they still the members labeled as a “druggie,” “murderer,” “pervert,” etc. They even have to go on television to clear their names. BIGBANG, 2NE1, Winner, iKON, Blackpink, Lee Hi, AKMU - everyone has their share of poor management. All of these artists have to sometimes fight for their solos (BIGBANG for instance), ask permission to release an album, ask permission to do a collaboration (like MOBB), ask permission to be in a variety show, etc. These artists would probably ask Yang Hyun Suk but even if given his approval - it still has to go through the higher-ups.
YG Family is dead? No. I don’t think so. The company may not be marketing it anymore, but you could see that the artists still support and interact with each other - even to those who left. Se7en is still friends with BIGBANG and 2NE1, Dara, CL and Bom still support Minzy, Winner and iKON are close friends, AKMU and Lee Hi are close.
Bottom line: Because the brothers sold a large percentage of company shares, they somehow lost control of YG Entertainment. The only way to get back to the old management is if the brothers and the artists buy more shares than the investors. It will be hard to buy back the company because the company is worth more than it used to.
I keep on telling people that there’s a bigger picture in this, but some fans fail to see things in a mature way. For others, it’s just my fave vs. your fave vs. Yang Hyun Suk. Stop being petty with the fanwars and educate yourselves first.
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