HYBE Acquires Ithaca Holdings in $1 Billion Deal to Lead Global Music Industry Innovation

Century City, CA and Seoul – Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that the firm advised HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), a South Korean entertainment lifestyle platform company, in the $1 billion acquisition of Ithaca Holdings, a fully integrated media company with interests across music, tech, film, television, brands and culture.  

As part of this historic international deal, HYBE will acquire through its wholly owned subsidiary HYBE America, a 100% stake in Ithaca Holdings and its properties such as SB Projects and Big Machine Label Group. Ithaca Holdings CEO Scott "Scooter" Braun will join the board of HYBE and Scott Borchetta will remain CEO of Big Machine Label Group. Artists of both companies will participate in the capital increase of HYBE to further strengthen the ties between the two companies.

The deal brings together a range of services including management, label services and publishing for global artists BTS, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, J Balvin, Demi Lovato, Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line, Lady A and more. 

The Paul Hastings team was led by Corporate partners David Hernand and Iksoo Kim and included partners Dong Chul Kim, Stephen Harris, and Douglas Schaaf, and Susan Williams; of counsels Amy Lawrence, Michael Wise, and Ron Ben-Yehuda; and associates Irina Dykhne, Vivian Tsai, Stan Kalminsky, Stuart Downey, Jake Friedman, M’Alyssa Mecenas, Jennia Iordanou, Nikita Lamba, Julian Alsarhn, Brian Smith, and Jasneet Aulakh.

At Paul Hastings, our purpose is clear — to help our clients and people navigate new paths to growth. With a strong presence throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., Paul Hastings is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative global law firms.