Lisa's staggering market value and members' internal dynamics cast doubt on BLACKPINK contract renewals

Predictions that it may be challenging to see BLACKPINK as a full group in the future are being made following one entertainment journalist's recent YouTube report.

On October 7 KST, reporter Lee Jin Ho released a video titled "Is She Really 100 Billion Won? Lisa's Astonishing Market Value... Reasons Behind the Distance from BLACKPINK's Full Group" through his YouTube channel 'Entertainment President Lee Jin Ho.' The journalist, who has over 480,000 subscribers, has been working in Korean media for 15 years, having worked as an entertainment and sports writer for Sports Chosun and as part of the broadcasting team for CJ ENM's eNEWS. The video resulted in a number of news articles and quickly trended to the #1 position on Naver's Entertainment news page.

In the video, he states that YG Entertainment is having difficulty creating individual contracts with the BLACKPINK members. He then mentioned previous reports claiming some members have set up their own one-member management companies. There were also tips that the parents of one member were in meetings with multiple investors.

"Lisa is making bold moves," he also mentioned, regarding her recent performances at 'Crazy Horse Paris.' "If Lisa had re-signed with YG, it would've been difficult for her to appear in such a show."

Lee Jin Ho then commented on a previous rumor that Lisa received a proposal from a Thai company worth around 50 billion won. "It's true that, domestically, Korean members Jisoo, Jennie, and Rosé receive more attention. However, Lisa's role in BLACKPINK's global success has also been significant," he explained. "According to our research, Lisa's market value is reported to exceed 100 billion won – well beyond the 50 billion won mark. Even though K-pop is immensely popular worldwide, it's challenging to invest 100-200 billion won in a single member. In this situation, YG has very few attractive cards they can offer to retain Lisa."

"International performances are attractive to the members, and because BLACKPINK's intellectual property belongs to YG, they continued to propose terms for full-group activities while acknowledging individual contracts. These individual contracts with YG are practically a done deal. From YG's perspective, they are all in for BLACKPINK's full-group activities," he revealed. "However, the members' relationships are not the same as before. There are even members who don't share their personal matters at all. The prospects for member-specific contracts between the members and YG have become practically difficult."

As the situation would make it challenging for BLACKPINK to engage in full-group activities, Lee Jin Ho He predicted, "We can expect to see BLACKPINK in their full-group capacity until the end of this year. However, starting from next year when individual contracts intensify, it'll be difficult to see BLACKPINK as a full group for several years."

Meanwhile, BLACKPINK debuted in August 2016 and celebrated their seventh anniversary earlier this year. As previously reported, the group is currently in discussions with YG Entertainment for re-signing. While they have kept generally mum regarding contract negotiations, a rumor that Jisoo, Jennie, and Lisa would all be leaving the agency caused them to release a statement clarifying, "Discussions are ongoing, and nothing has been confirmed."