'Butter' lifts quarterly profit of the company behind BTS

Seoul, Nov 4 (IANS) Hybe, the K-pop company behind BTS, on Thursday reported a record-high quarterly operating profit and revenue for the third quarter, supported by the success of 'Butter'.

The company said in a regulatory filing that its operating profit for July-September was estimated at $55.7 million, up by 63.33 per cent from a year ago. Revenue surged by 79.5 per cent to lift the net profit by 81.86 per cent. Hybe attributed the increases to the growth of sales of the album, merchandise and licensing deals, reports Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.

Album sales rose by 21 per cent from the previous quarter because of the strong performance of BTS's megahit single 'Butter' and 'The Chaos Chapter: Fight or Escape', a re-packaged version of an album by Tomorrow X Together, according to the company.

'Butter', released in May, spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the longest-reigning hit this year thus far.

Earlier in the day, Hybe announced that it will get into the non-fungible token (NFT) business through a joint venture with Dunamu, the largest South Korean cryptocurrency operator.

"We will establish a joint venture with Dunamu in the United States to develop a platform where various NFTs based on artistes' IP (intellectual property) rights are traded," Hybe said, adding that it will continue to expand its IP lineup to include global artistes and sports stars.