HYBE, the South Korean firm behind BTS, is winding down Supertone, the AI voice-synthesis firm it took management of in 2023.
Supertone‘s shareholders resolved to dissolve the corporate and place it into liquidation, based on a regulatory disclosure filed on July 23.
The choice was taken at a rare shareholders’ assembly on July 15, the submitting stated, with a liquidator appointed to run the wind-down.
HYBE described the choice as “a matter determined as a part of a realignment of its AI enterprise technique,” based on a report in The Korea Financial Day by day, including that it had “reviewed the opportunity of sustaining the company entity from numerous angles, however concluded that continued operation can be tough.”
Supertone has posted a dissolution discover on its web site, and now lists Hoon Heo as its CEO instead of co-founder Lee Kyo-gu.
HYBE is in talks to switch Supertone‘s voice-conversion and noise-removal instruments, Shift, Clear and Air, to an out of doors purchaser, Seoul Financial Day by day reported on July 26, citing funding banking sources.
The report stated Supertone posted income of KRW 2.3 billion (USD $1.6 million) final 12 months, in opposition to an working lack of KRW 15.4 billion ($10.5 million).
Inside-transaction income between Supertone and HYBE fell from KRW 200 million in 2023 to KRW 61 million final 12 months, based on the report.
HYBE first invested in Supertone in 2021, paying KRW 4 billion ($3.6 million on the time) for an 18.2% stake.
It later took majority management in a deal price KRW 45 billion (round $32 million on the time) that MBW reported in 2022 and accomplished the next 12 months.
In all, HYBE put practically KRW 49 billion (round $35 million) into Supertone throughout the 2 investments.
Supertone‘s instruments featured in a number of of HYBE‘s AI releases, together with MIDNATT, whose 2023 single Masquerade was issued in six languages, and the digital group SYNDI8.
Neither MIDNATT nor SYNDI8 developed into a longtime industrial act, and SYNDI8‘s 2024 debut drew criticism from some Ok-pop followers.
In July 2025, the deaf Ok-pop group Massive Ocean used Supertone’s voice-conversion system on a single premiered on the UN‘s AI for Good summit in Geneva.
Supertone describes its know-how as capable of produce “hyper-realistic and expressive” voices, and lists partnerships with Disney, Netflix, ZTX and ZEPETO on its web site.
The wind-down applies to Supertone as a enterprise, and HYBE has continued to pursue AI throughout the broader group.
HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk has continued to position AI on the middle of the corporate’s technique, positioning HYBE as an leisure life-style platform firm, and mentioned AI and the way forward for music with UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge at a June city corridor.
HYBE additionally introduced Supertone as a unbroken development enterprise in its 2025 sustainability report, filed to South Korea’s DART disclosure system on June 30 – simply over two weeks earlier than Supertone’s shareholders resolved to dissolve the corporate.
The report lists Supertone alongside DRIMAGE and HYBE NEXT ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS as considered one of three “technology-driven future development companies” within the group.
It says Supertone “actively researches AI audio know-how to allow creators to supply extra immersive content material,” and that its know-how “is being expanded past music for software throughout numerous content material areas, together with motion pictures, animation, and the metaverse.”
The report additionally carries a piece on Supertone’s AI danger administration, describing AI ethics tips printed on the corporate’s web site, and confidentiality agreements required since 2023 of any worker who collects, processes, or makes use of delicate knowledge for AI coaching.
It covers calendar 2025, with some qualitative materials drawn from the primary half of 2026.
The wind-down follows a 12 months by which HYBE’s profitability fell sharply – although its most up-to-date quarter pointed the opposite method.
Working revenue fell 72.9% YoY in 2025 at the same time as revenues reached a document KRW 2.65 trillion ($1.86 billion), as MBW reported.
In Q1 2026, MBW reported, the corporate posted document first-quarter revenues of KRW 698.3 billion ($477 million), up 39.5% YoY, with adjusted working revenue up 170.3% YoY to KRW 58.5 billion ($40 million) and an adjusted working margin of 8.4%.
On an unadjusted foundation, HYBE booked a Q1 working lack of KRW 196.6 billion, reflecting a one-off KRW 255 billion cost tied to shares gifted by the corporate’s controlling shareholder for worker compensation.
HYBE demonstrated Supertone’s instruments on its full-year 2023 earnings name in February 2024, when an AI voice replicating then-CEO Jiwon Park delivered a part of the presentation.
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