There was no such “Lee Hyo-ri” effect. Antenna, affiliated with Kakao Entertainment, expected a large profit from the exclusive contact with Lee Hyo-ri, a famous South Korean solo singer and actress, but made a financial loss of over 2 billion won ($1.452 million) last year.
According to data from the Repository of Korea’s Corporate Filings’ Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART) on Apr. 22, Antenna reported revenue of 21.940.18 billion won (approximately $15.93 million) last year, with expenses totaling 23.956 billion won (around $17.39 million), resulting in an operating loss of 2.1586 billion won (about $1.46 million).
Compared to 2022, Antenna’s revenue increased, but so did its losses. In 2022, the company reported an operating loss of 46.1 million won (about $33,444), largely due to a rise in operating expenses from 20.841 billion won to 23.919 billion won within a year. This included a notable increase in salary expenses from 1.396 billion won in 2022 to 2.591 billion won in 2023.
The entertainment agency garnered attention last year after securing investments from Yu Jae-seok, a comedian and television host, as well as forming partnerships with celebrities like Lee Hyo-ri and Lee Seo-jin. Lee Hyo-ri, who announced in 2012 that she would stop appearing in all commercials, made headlines last year when she revealed her comeback resuming commercials after signing an exclusive contract with Antenna. South Korean singer and composer Jung Jae-hyung, who belongs to Antenna, even said on his YouTube channel “Fairy Jae-hyung” in December last year, “The revenue generated by Lee Hyo-ri last year is expected to match that we accumulated for 20 years.” However, the so-called “Lee Hyo-ri effect” did not immediately yield significant results.
Yu Jae-seok, who reportedly made his first-ever investment in Antenna, became the third largest shareholder by acquiring a 20.7% stake from Kakao Entertainment for 3 billion won in June last year. As of the end of last year, he held a 19.9% stake. The music label’s CEO Yu Hee-yul, also reacquired a 21.4% stake by investing 3.2 billion won, making him the second-largest shareholder. Kakao Entertainment is the largest shareholder with a 57.9% stake (7553 shares).
In June of last year, Yu Jae-seok expressed his intention to increase Antenna’s revenue through the web entertainment program “Pinggyego” produced by Antenna Plus, emphasizing that it is an investment for the future despite the current lack of significant profits.
