Wang Yibo - YIBO Actor, singer, notable works include 'Exploring the Unknown', 'Hidden Blade', 'Born to Fly', 'One & Only'
Yibo has updated his Weibo profile removing Uniq from his name and adding Exploring the Unknown to his representative works.
He has also renewed with Yuehua for an unspecified term. You can see the announcement document here.
A lot of fans are going to be upset about this, but I am not one of them. I believe wholeheartedly in his ability to make the right decisions for his career. Given his bargaining power with them I have no doubt that he would have secured extraordinarily favorable contract terms.
The text of the announcement:
As I had said previously, he has all of the information that we do not have. He knows his own goals and dreams, he knows the types of activities he wants to focus on, he knows his own resources and what is best for him, and he knows all of the terms and details that Yuehua is offering. He has worked with them for many years and knows what to expect from them.
I'm just glad that he will no longer have this hanging over his head, and can focus on other things. He has an important race coming up, and I look forward to whatever else he has in store for us 💚.
YH Entertainment Group
(Stock Code: 2306)
VOLUNTARY ANNOUNCEMENT RENEWAL OF THE EXCLUSIVE ARTIST MANAGEMENT CONTRACT WITH A MANAGED ARTIST
This announcement is made by YH Entertainment Group (the “Company,” together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) on a voluntary basis to inform shareholders and potential investors of the latest business development of the Group.
The board (the “Board”) of directors (“Directors,” and each a “Director”) of the Company is pleased to announce that the Group has completed the renewal of the exclusive artist management contract with Mr. Wang Yibo (王一博) (“Mr. Wang”), a managed artist of the Company.
Through continuous professional dedication and strong market appeal, Mr. Wang has built a powerful personal brand influence. Mr. Wang has been a managed artist of the Company for over a decade.
The latest contract renewal not only extends the long-term partnership between Mr. Wang and the Group but also represents a deeper alignment for his future career development.
The Company believes such renewal would also facilitate the Group’s operations and reinforce the Group’s position as a key market player in the entertainment industry in China.
The Board is of the view that the continuance of the strategic cooperation between the Group and Mr. Wang further injected strong confidence into the stability of the Company’s performance and its long-term development.
By order of the Board
YH Entertainment Group
DU Hua
Executive Director, Chairlady of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
The thing is, if yibo were in any way planning or negotiating with yuehua for a contract renewal, they wouldn't need to make this last minute desperate attempt to keep him.
Also, the stock will plummet and be absolutely worthless the minute he leaves that company, whether that's now, or in two years, or in four years. Yibo is a smart cookie, he knows what he's doing. There's no way he's staying with yuehua.
Yuehua "2026 share incentive plan" - what does it mean?
By now you have probably heard the news that Yuehua wants to create a "share incentive plan" and offer shares of the company to Yibo in an attempt to retain him as an artist on their roster.
Let's take a look at some of the implications.
Standard disclaimer: This is my own perspective on things based on what I've seen, and should be taken with a huge grain of salt. I obviously have no inside information whatsoever and I'm going by the same information everyone else has access to.
What is this offer?
If you would like to read the full document you can find it here.
So in simple terms, what is this document saying?
YH wants to create a new "share incentive program" whose sole purpose will be to reward YH shares to valued people connected to the company
The goal is to incentivize valued people to stick with the company and perform well for the company.
The maximum amount of shares to be offered as part of this program is 20 million (or about 2.4% of the company).
If this program is approved by the shareholders, YH will then offer Yibo an incentive package amounting to 12.5 million shares.
He would purchase those shares at a token HK $0.01 per share, or HK $125,000. Right now, based on the current stock price, the shares are valued at around HK $26 million.
He would not get all of the shares immediately - he'd get 25% per year for 4 years.
There are also terms in place so that if he violates his contract, leaves the company before the four years are up or if something significant happens to destroy his reputation or value, any remaining stocks that he has not yet received will be forfeited.
It is essentially a four-year contract extension for what amounts to about a million US dollars a year in stocks that could go up in value, but might not.
Given what he brings into the company and the somewhat paltry value of this offering, which would only give him something like a 1.5% stake in the company and whose value would be almost entirely dependent on him sticking with the company, it would seem like this is a very pathetic offer.
Then why is the company going so low?
Well, for one thing they are not at liberty to give much more than that in stock incentives. Any new shares that they issue as part of this program will dilute the ownership stake and the value of every other share in the company.
While the shareholders have some incentive to allow dilution of their stock to some degree in order to retain a key figure like Yibo, there is going to be a hard limit to their willingness to take a hit in hopes of retaining him and boosting the overall value of the shares.
The stock exchange also sets regulatory limits on this type of activity.
There's also the consideration that they have other artists that they need to negotiate with, and they will not want to set a precedent where huge public offerings create a standard for what other artists can try to haggle for or might come to expect from the company.
So while people are absolutely eviscerating YH online for the pathetic size of the offer, it is not within their power to go much beyond that with shares, and they're going to want to keep other incentives as private as possible.
The only reason we know about these shares is because any intent by a public company to offer shares in a program like this must be declared publicly.
They are likely offering him a lot more than that behind the scenes.
What else could they offer him?
Some of the other things they could offer him that would not have to be disclosed:
A bigger percentage of the contracts that he signs for projects and endorsements
More freedom and control over his career
More legal, industry or marketing resources
In fact, some of this is probably already part of his renegotiated contract with them.
Someone asked me a while back about Yibo Official, and whether that team would go with him if he were to leave Yuehua. It's likely that he already owns most if not all of YBO, but depending on how things are structured between YBO and YH, there might still be room for negotiation.
If contracts are signed directly with YH and revenue from them trickles through to YBO and then to Yibo, there would be room for him to negotiate a situation where that whole thing is reversed - where the initial contracts all go through YBO and they share a percentage of revenue with YH.
This would put him in a lot more control over his career, and would give him more control over his earnings. The percentage of revenue that he earns would go to an entity owned by him, so there would be more profits as well.
There is also room for percentages to change. I think it's likely that he is already making a high percentage of any revenue that is coming in from his efforts, but there is always room for tweaking that.
For example, if 70% currently goes to him and 30% goes to YH, he could renegotiate those percentages to work much more in his favor.
There's also a possibility that he could arrange it so that he is running YBO entirely independently while still publicly appearing to be an artist under YH, paying them some percentage of revenue and gaining legal, marketing or other resources from them, but in all other ways working totally separately.
This would put him in a position of being mostly independent, without some of the risk that goes along with that.
However, I suspect that's already probably been the case for a while now to some degree, and the only step left for him is to move on and launch his own studio and go entirely independent.
And I suspect that's what's going to happen at the end of all of this. It fits too well with everything that's been happening.
Over the past few years he has been focusing on endorsements and smaller projects that require shorter term contracts. This prepares him to be free of YH and not have any sticky contract situations at the end of his term. It also gives him income to build an independent studio or company.
He owns all of the trademarks connected with him, and has been focusing on projects that build him up as a name worth watching.
He has been distancing himself more and more from YH.
YH has been distancing itself from him as well - the most notable example being that they did not mention him in the 2025 interim report, after making him central in all of their previous filings. I talked about that in more detail here. They could be trying to limit the impact if he leaves the company. (The annual report should be coming out in the next few weeks, so that will be interesting to see.)
So what does all of this mean?
Everything I've seen up until now points to him not renewing.
He couldn't possibly be in a stronger negotiating position if he tried. The stock price has been going down, some major shareholders have pulled out earlier in the year, if he leaves the company will likely be in dire straits.
YH is very exposed here. If he leaves they are screwed on multiple fronts. Therefore they are likely offering him their first born children and every other thing they can think of to keep him.
In other words, I don't think he's holding out for a better offer. He has probably already been offered everything that they could reasonably give him without destroying the company.
Even with these shares, and even with any behind the scenes tinkering that could be happening to percentages and power, it seems unlikely to me that they have any ability to offer him something that would make it worthwhile for him to stay.
I suspect he's been spending recent years gradually building up his own resources, team and relationships to facilitate a smooth transition to an independent career.
In your opinion?
Yes it's just my opinion.
Of course all of this is speculation. We do not know what's going to happen, and this is just my take on it. I hope (and urge) that everyone forms their own opinion, or at least doesn't take mine too seriously.
It's possible he will renew in the end (and if he does the terms of that contract will be incredible, no doubt).
He knows what his goals are, he knows best what he needs, he knows all of the terms of all of these contracts and offerings, and he is surrounded by people who are professionally skilled with regard to every legal, professional, reputational and other consideration involved. I wholeheartedly trust him to do what is best for him.
Whatever Yibo decides, I will support him 100%. If he decides to stick with Yuehua, I will be in his corner and support that decision. If he goes on his own, of course I will be very excited for him.
Only time will tell.
Edit: And it didn't take much time at all! 😅 He has renewed for an unspecified term. More info on that here. It makes more sense to me now, because I could not have seen him holding out until October as the stock continued to plummet.
He has obviously been given an offer that covered the things that he was looking for, and I'm really happy for him.
I was expecting it to go in a different direction based on everything I outlined above, but I'm not all that surprised that he decided to stick with them. As I said, there is plenty of room for him to get a lot of Independence while still having the support and stability of an agency backing him.
can u read about yuehua new boygroup? Will they will success?
(it will include ZB1 zhanghao, ricky, gyuvin, yujin and ECNNE seung eon)
and what yuehua think about their group?
thank u so so much
Hi! For success it gave me star and the empress. Looks like it’s a positive outcome for now full of abundance and hope. Yuenha are thinking seven of cups clarified by judgement and seven of wands. They’re focusing on the importance of choosing wisely and enduring hard work
I have a question regarding Yibo's close staff and bodyguards. I know it is still unsure whether Yibo will leave YH this year or not, but if he does in fact leave the company, do you know what will happen to his staff and bodyguards? Are they under YH and will stay working for the company or do you think they are directly working for Yibo and would leave with him and continue working for him?
They have been with him for so long and it seems like they have a good and trusting relationship. It would be sad to see them part ways.
Hi cloudsandbunnies, I'm getting by, thanks! Hope you're well! 😊
No one knows the details of the contracts for DD or his staff (which is as it should be - this is all very private stuff), but we do know that he has a very strong, close, trusting relationship with his staff - especially his bodyguards.
This kind of trust is essential for someone who is so much in the public eye and must rely on others for his financial, reputational, professional and physical protection and support.
It's impossible to know what will happen if he leaves YH, but I think it is likely that the key people will go with DD. It's hard to imagine it happening any other way.
It's possible that most of them are already directly contracted to DD, but if any of the key people who have been around for years are contracted through YH, I think they will probably find a way to transfer those contracts to DD.
All contracts involve negotiation, and I find it hard to imagine that DD and his staff wouldn't negotiate terms that ensure they can continue the work they've been doing together. In that industry trust is such an integral part of any team, and the years that they have worked together - nearly a decade by now for some of them - represent a very valuable asset to DD and his career.
However, for those same reasons it's possible he would want to start with a clean slate for some or even all of his staff roles, rather than maintain team members who until now may have been reporting directly to YH.
But all of this is entirely speculation. We'll find out soon enough, as his contract with Yuehua is set to expire later this year.
soooo yuehua actually took Yunseo out of EVNNE only to not re-debut with the zb1 members they took + Seungeon & terminated his contract...genuinely what the fuck is wrong with them?!??
