HYBE Makes Historic Key Acquisition to Merge with QC Media Holdings, Inc., The Parent Company of Pierre "P" Thomas and Kevin "Coach K" Lee Advancing HYBE's Ambition to be the Leader in Global Entertainment

• HYBE inks historic deal with QC Media Holdings, Inc., the parent company for Pierre "P" Thomas and Kevin "Coach K" Lee's music, sports, and film & television empire ("QC"), greatly increasing its footprint in the music landscape while diversifying the company's offerings as it continues to be to be one of the most dominant entertainment and lifestyle platforms in the world.
• This merger acquisition is part of the larger vision for HYBE that is shared by Bang, Scooter and the rest of HYBE's leadership; to create a truly global entertainment platform that is rooted in music, the artists that create music, and the loyal fans across the world that are inspired by that music.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

With this partnership, QC will benefit from HYBE's global entertainment innovation capabilities

QC, founded by CEO Pierre "P" Thomas and COO Kevin "Coach K" Lee, is among the most influential labels, responsible for groundbreaking acts such as Migos, Lil Yachty, Lil Baby, and City Girls.

"I am so proud and honored to have Coach and P join Bang and myself as our partners," said HYBE America CEO Scooter Braun. "QC is one of the most significant independent labels in the world, working with incredible artists who are, and remain to be, the voices of culture.  I'll never forget riding around Atlanta over 20 years ago with Coach discussing our dreams and ambitions and how we said: 'If they let us in the game, we are never going to give it back'. Now, all these years later, we are joining forces to make these dreams a reality.  It's important to my team and me that P and Coach continue to have the freedom, and now our global resources, to continue to do what they do best; facilitate and nurture great art and culture." 

"HYBE are perfect partners for Quality Control as we come together to take our story and work global.  All of HYBE's leaders are entrepreneurs with phenomenal, combined history finding talent and taking it to the highest levels. Taking QC worldwide requires key partners like this who understand building something from the bottom and aiming sky high. It matters to us greatly their grasp of culture and acutely seeing what QC has built and the limitless path of where it can go.   QC and HYBE both have an existing relationship with the Universal Music Group family of companies makes this seamless.  We have so much gratitude to the whole QC family of artists and without them this wouldn't be possible.  This partnership will create a global platform for our artists which has been our goal since day one for them," said Pierre "P" Thomas, Co-Founder, CEO of QC.

"P and I are ecstatic about this partnership with Scooter and HYBE and are confident they can get us to our global ambitions we've had in our scope since the beginning of our company as nothing means more than our artists impacting world-wide. Over many years Scooter and I have cultivated real trust and a common way of looking at the world and culture. An added bonus of this partnership is the fact that both QC and HYBE have existing relationships with the UMG family and that will create an easy flow that will benefit the artists.  The artists of QC are our focus and their best interests will be incredibly supported with this partnership,"  said Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Co-Founder, COO of QC.

This collaboration will drive HYBE's strategy to expand and diversify its global entertainment footprint

The acquisition represents the first initiative orchestrated by Scooter Braun as sole CEO of HYBE AMERICA, underscoring Scooter's key role in the expansion plans for HYBE given his track record and reputation in the industry as well as his ability to bring key players to the table.

This is part of a strategic and concerted effort by HYBE to diversify its offerings and the company's dedication to groundbreaking innovation via technology investments and strategic partnerships. The first strategic partnership was with Ithaca, which immediately diversified HYBE's portfolio by including Scooter Braun Projects and Big Machine Label Group. Now with QC, HYBE has made another significant inroad into other genres of music. 

In addition to expanding its footprint in the music industry, HYBE is focused on building out its already robust tech portfolio which consists of innovative global platform Weverse, a global multimedia fandom hub that connects artists to fan communities, and recently acquired Artificial Intelligence audio company Supertone.

"Based on hip-hop, QC has been making a strong presence in the American music scene. With our shared vision, I have high hopes in what we can operate and achieve together," said Jiwon Park, CEO, HYBE.

"This partnership is a vital part of our growth plan to innovate the entertainment industry through a diversified portfolio and advanced technology. We will work together to continue adding depth of hip-hop to the global music industry," said  Bang Si-Hyuk, Chairman, HYBE.

About HYBE

HYBE Corp. (HYBE), rebranded from Big Hit Entertainment in March 2021, is a global entertainment lifestyle platform company that seeks boundless expansion in order to innovate the music industry. Ever since, HYBE has been expanding its multi label system including BIGHIT MUSIC, BELIFT LAB, SOURCE MUSIC, PLEDIS Entertainment, KOZ ENTERTAINMENT, ADOR, HYBE LABELS JAPAN, while HYBE AMERICA also manages its affiliate labels including Big Machine Label Group. In addition to the label business, HYBE established an integrated structure with its solution business that creates concert, video content, game, original story and retail, as well as a platform business through Weverse, a global fandom platform. Composed of its three headquarters based in Korea, Japan and the US, the company works towards bringing innovative change throughout the global music industry.

About HYBE AMERICA 

HYBE AMERICA sits at the intersection of global trends in music, entertainment and technology, creating new synergetic opportunities for artists, businesses and brands. The company encompasses artist management, music publishing, recording labels and content creation with activities across music, tech, film, television, brands, culture, and social good. The company's combined expertise and proven track records of success transcends genres, industries and national borders. SB Projects, a business unit of HYBE AMERICA, represents global artists like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato while the company's recording labels under Big Machine Label Group include some of the biggest names in country music and rock such as Tim McGraw, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, and Sheryl Crowe. HYBE AMERICA is a wholly owned subsidiary of HYBE Corp. 

About QC Media Holdings 

QC Media Holdings, Inc, is the parent company for CEO Pierre "P" Thomas and COO Kevin "Coach K" Lee's Music, Sports, Film and Television empire ("QC")".  P and Coach K launched the music business in 2013. Garnering billions of streams yearly from groundbreaking acts like Migos, Lil Yachty, Lil Baby and City Girls, QC is without a doubt leading the charge as one of the biggest and most influential labels of today. In 2020, QC's Lil Baby released My Turn, the highest selling & streaming album of the year and the first album of 2020 to go RIAA certified double platinum, with his entire catalog hitting over 37 billion streams to date in 2022. The QC empire has continued to expand, launching their subsequent management wing Solid Foundation Management, film & TV wing Quality Films and sports wing QC Sports. As digital strategists and label execs, Coach and P have earned the prestigious titles of Executives of the Year by Billboard and Innovators of the Year by Variety. Spearheading their way through the culture in music, film, sports, and TV by breaking unknown acts, athletes and talent and taking them all the way to stadiums, QC has undoubtedly become the modern-day blueprint for success in the industry.

Media contact:
Jennifer Abel
[email protected]

SOURCE HYBE AMERICA