NewJeans is looking for a new home.
In a shocking move, the beloved K-pop group left their management company Hybe after a months-long management dispute and officially terminated their contract.
According to NBC Philadelphia, the announcement that they were leaving the company sent shares down as much as 6.97% on November 29. This equates to a loss of $423 million.
NewJeans announced that they were leaving the company after Hybe’s sub-label ADOR breached its contract with the band.
Member Hanni said: “Staying here will waste time and only bring mental pain.”
“There was nothing we could achieve professionally by staying here, so the five of us had no reason to stay in ADOR,” she continued.
News agencies reported that NewJeans had previously sent a legal notice to Hybe with a list of demands sent to the agency. One of their demands is the reinstatement of former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin. After failing, they threatened to terminate the contract.
Additionally, the list of demands includes “addressing” an internal Hybe report that said to “screw NewJeans and start over.”
Hanni has stated that there has been “mistreatment not only of us but also of our staff, countless acts of obstruction and contradiction, deliberate miscommunication and manipulation regarding to many fields.” However, she did not explain anything further.
News of NewJeans leaving the company comes after Hanni’s workplace harassment case was exposed.
Hanni previously testified in court and told the Congressional Labor and Environment Committee: “We have a floor in the building for hair and makeup, and at that time I was waiting in the hallway for hair and makeup. My makeup was done first.. I greeted them all [executives]then about 5 to 10 minutes later they came back. On the way out, [the manager] made eye contact with me, turned to the rest of the group and said, ‘Ignore her as if you don’t see her.’ I don’t understand why she would say such things in a work environment.”
She also asserted that senior management at Hybe had previously treated her coldly.
“Since my debut [in NewJeans]We have met many times a person with a high position, but when I greeted them, they did not say hello at all,” she said.
“When I lived in Korea, I understood that I had to be polite to my elders and that it was part of the culture – but I thought it was disrespectful to not greet us, regardless of our professional status. There’s a certain feeling.” [of disrespect] that I feel about the company,” Hanni added.
The NewJeans member further alleged that company employees said some nasty things about the group on an app called Blind. She also accused Hybe’s PR team of downplaying the group’s success.
However, her case was thrown out of court. The Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office shared that the singer does not qualify as an employee under the law.
“It is difficult to consider Hanni as a worker under the Labor Standards Act, so the case has been administratively closed,” said a statement sent to Billboard from the Korean Labor office said.
NewJeans debuted in 2022 and scored hits like “OMG” and “Super Shy.” Members include: Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein.
TagsKpop, News