Scooter Braun is stepping down as CEO of HYBE America

Scooter Braun is stepping down from his role as CEO of HYBE America.

The music mogul spent four years at the head of the US branch of the South Korean multinational entertainment company. Despite announcing his departure, he will remain part of the group in an advisory role. This will involve him serving both as director of the board and acting as senior advisor to HYBE Chairman and CEO Bang Si-Hyuk, who founded the company in 2005.

He remains the second-largest individual shareholder, and stepping down from being CEO to being in an advisory role will allow him to pursue other ventures outside of the conglomerate.

In his statement announcing the news, Braun said that his time as part of the company was “one of the most inspiring chapters of my professional journey” (via Rolling Stone).

He also said that CEO Bang Si-Hyuk was “a true visionary and a musical genius”, and added: “What he has built with HYBE is unparalleled. I am incredibly proud of our collective accomplishments and look forward to supporting Chairman Bang and CEO Jason Jaesang Lee in their continued success as I step into what’s next.”

In his own statement, Bang described Braun as “an extraordinary partner, a visionary executive, and a true catalyst for cultural exchange.”

“His contributions have been vital in establishing our ambitious presence in the U.S. market,” he continued. “I am deeply grateful for his leadership, his astute instincts and his unwavering passion for artists. We wish him immense success in his exciting next chapter and look forward to continuing our partnership in executing HYBE’s global vision.”

Business between Scooter Braun and HYBE stems back to April 2021, when the conglomerate behind K-pop heavyweights like BTS and Tomorrow X Together acquired a 100 per cent stake in his Ithaca Holdings.

This came at a time when Ithaca Holdings included the country label Big Machine Label Group, a publishing company and Braun’s own management company, SB Projects. The latter represented huge names like Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. Shortly after the sale, Braun was announced as co-CEO of HYBE America, working alongside Lenzo Yoon Seok-jun.

He then became the sole CEO in 2023, and the following year saw him announce his retirement from artist management.

As highlighted by RS, his time at HYBE America saw him complete a $300million (£219million) acquisition of the Atlanta-based hip-hop company, Quality Control, which represented the likes of Migos, Lil Baby, City Girls, and Lil Yachty.

In 2024, the conglomerate also secured a distribution deal with UMG, putting Braun at the head of the promotional and marketing collaborations between the two companies.

Braun first rose to fame in 2008 after helping launch the career of a then-12-year-old Justin Bieber, after seeing him performing on YouTube. He then went on to represent him for a further 15 years. In recent years, however, Braun has faced controversy after apparently denying Taylor Swift her masters recordings.

In 2023, in response to reports of a host of his artists seeking new management, Braun shared a lighthearted response on X/Twitter, writing: “Breaking news… I’m no longer managing myself.” That same year, it was reported that the mogul had regrets about how he handled the sale of Taylor Swift‘s master recordings.

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