(Yonhap)
Founder and executive producer of Cube Entertainment Hong Seong-sung announced Tuesday that he was leaving the label, about a month after the firm’s ownership changed.
He wrote on his Twitter that “I am leaving Cube Entertainment which I had bet my life on” and “I will stand in front of public again in some other way.”
On his reasons for leaving, he said “It didn’t take much time for me to realize they, whom I thought would be good partners that provide mutual help, had no intentions of working together with me.”
Hong was co-founder of JYP Entertainment, which he left to establish Cube Entertainment in 2008. Cube is currently home to popular idol groups including 4Minute, Beast, BTOB, CLC, Pentagon and (G)I-dle.
In February this year, local cosmetics and media commerce firm VT GMP became the firm’s largest shareholder by acquiring a 30.61 percent stakes in talent agency iHQ for 29.1 billion won ($23.8 million).
At the time, Hong said “Cube held hands with a great partner to take a bigger leap forward, and will try to grow even more as each fulfills the other’s needs.”
But last week after VT GMP named its two executives as Cube’s new co-CEOs, Hong immediately expressed his concerns via Twitter about the leadership reshuffle and other actions being taken by the new owner.
He wrote, “At this important time when we should be cooperating to help the artists, they are creating internal strife that not even mobsters would do.”
By Kwon Yae-rim (
kyr@heraldcorp.com)