[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that Artist Company has liquidated its clothing subsidiary, Odin Company. Recently, it also sold off its ad-tech platform business. This move is interpreted as an effort to focus on its core entertainment management operations. As the company faces poor financial performance, reducing its business scale could negatively impact its stock price. In fact, Artist Company’s stock price has been on a downward trend for several years.
Artist Company is an entertainment agency founded by actors Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung in 2016. In 2023, Lee and Jung participated in a capital increase for the ad platform company WiderPlanet, becoming its largest shareholders, and in 2025, WiderPlanet and Artist Company merged. While the structure was a takeover of Artist Company by WiderPlanet, the company name was decided as Artist Company. Currently, Lee Jung-jae is the largest shareholder with a 27.10% stake, while Jung Woo-sung is the second-largest shareholder with 10.99%.
BizHankook's investigation revealed that Artist Company’s subsidiary, Odin Company, was dissolved last July. A dissolved corporation goes through procedures such as debt settlement and distribution of remaining assets before being liquidated. According to the corporate registry, Lee Jung-jae is serving as the liquidator of Odin Company himself. BizHankook inquired with Artist Company regarding the reason for the liquidation of Odin Company but did not receive a response.
Odin Company was a clothing firm established by Artist Company in 2024. It was intended to engage in IP-based brand commerce, fashion and beauty brand businesses, and businesses combining content with shopping. Since Artist Company represents numerous celebrities besides Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung—such as Yum Jung-ah, Park Hae-jin, Lim Ji-yeon, Kim Hye-yoon, and Cho Yi-hyun—these artists could have been utilized for fashion-related projects. However, Odin Company had no notable activities since its inception and generated no revenue, eventually leading to its liquidation.
Given Artist Company's recent performance, investing in new businesses may have been a burden. Artist Company's revenue fell by 35.12% from 25.8 billion KRW in the first half of last year to 16.7 billion KRW in the first half of this year. Profitability was also poor, with an operating loss of 2.5 billion KRW recorded in the first half of this year.
The entertainment industry speculates that Artist Company is trying to concentrate on its entertainment management business. This is because it recently withdrew from the ad-tech platform business as well. Artist Company held a general shareholders' meeting on September 2 and decided to transfer its ad-tech platform business to Rainbow8. Last year, the ad-tech platform business earned 9.8 billion KRW, which is a significant amount, accounting for 21.01% of the total revenue of 46.7 billion KRW. Artist Company explained the purpose of transferring the ad-tech business as "strengthening the mid-to-long-term growth foundation and enhancing the competitiveness of core businesses through business portfolio restructuring."
However, if the business scale is reduced while recent financial performance is poor, it could have a negative impact on the stock price. Stock prices reflect future expectations, and without news of new businesses, such expectations are diminished. There is also no guarantee that the entertainment management business will sail smoothly. Artist Company reported an operating loss of 1.7 billion KRW in its entertainment business division in the first half of this year. The stock price, which was over 10,000 KRW immediately after the WiderPlanet-Artist Company merger in January 2025, is currently lingering in the 3,000 KRW range.
The atmosphere is grim. On September 17, Artist Company disclosed that a non-executive officer, identified as Mr. Lee, had embezzled 45.78 billion KRW. Considering last year's revenue of 46.7 billion KRW, this is a substantial amount. Artist Company's stock price fell 11.80% from 3,420 KRW on September 16 to 2,990 KRW on September 17. The downward trend continued on September 18.
Regarding the embezzlement case, Artist Company stated, "We plan to proceed with necessary legal measures, including damage suits and recovery procedures, in accordance with due process, and will actively cooperate with investigations by relevant agencies," adding, "We will identify the cause of this incident and implement internal control improvements to prevent recurrence."