Photo Credit: Lenzo Yoon / LinkedIn
Lenzo Yoon, a visionary executive who was instrumental in the rise of BTS, is leaving Hybe for good, according to a South Korean report.
Big Hit executive Lenzo Yoon, who was a key player in the rise of K-pop superstar group BTS, will be leaving the South Korean entertainment giant Hybe at the end of 2024. South Korean outlet Maeil Kyungjae reports that his contract has a non-compete clause expiring at the end of the year, and he will leave the company “immediately thereafter.”
Yoon was the co-CEO of Hybe America alongside Scooter Braun until January 2023, when the latter became the company’s sole CEO. Though he hasn’t held an official title at the company since stepping down from his role as co-CEO, Lenzo Yoon was a key executive at Hybe since joining the company in 2010 as Head of Strategic Planning, back when it was known as Big Hit Entertainment.
Scooter Braun joined Hybe when he sold his company Ithaca Holdings to the K-pop company in April 2021 for $1.05 billion. He recently stepped down from his 23-year role in artist management to focus on his new role as CEO of Hybe America. Last year, he led Hybe’s acquisition of Atlanta rap entertainment company QC Media Holdings (Quality Control), which is home to artists like City Girls, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and Migos.
Lenzo Yoon is known for pioneering the extensive in-house fan content side of Hybe’s business, which was a key component in the early rise of the company’s flagship K-pop group, BTS. As a result, superfan content continues to form an integral part of Hybe’s business strategy, such as the Weverse fan app, which recently attracted investment from Universal Music Group.
Driven by content made available to fans via the app, Weverse has been a major success for Hybe. It was cited by Yoon in 2020 as a key factor behind the company’s ability to grow its revenues during the pandemic. He was promoted to Chief Business Officer at Hybe in 2018, before being promoted to co-CEO alongside Bang Si-hyuk in 2019. Bang Si-hyuk stepped down from his role in 2021.
“When BTS was getting ready to debut, the world was becoming digital. We focused on the possibilities of new media, which we knew would become a bigger part of our fans’ lives,” said Yoon. “We thought that in this new environment content will be more important than the brand of the channel. We started to create our own content. This content became the link connecting our artists with our fans. Now they [are] loved the world over in many forms, from short clips, variety shows, documentaries, reality shows, and more.”
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