A penniless record man impulsively entered a real estate agency on his way to work. “What do I do if I want to invest in land but don’t have money?” His queer question was answered little by little, every day over lunch, for seven years. Now he owns buildings in the most expensive and popular districts in Seoul, Korea. Did he abandon art for money? No, he also owns the second largest entertainment corporation in the country.
Yang Hyun-Suk has created YG Entertainment and grew it to a half-billion-dollar corporation based on cultural content, and is still ambitious to expand his businesses. He didn’t like school nor books. Joking that he had a low IQ, Yang is actually a disruptive entrepreneur in the music scene with exceptional business intuition and learning ability. An easy-going personality who always shows up in casual outfits, the CEO loves watching YG’s artists doing hilarious imitations of him on TV and wholeheartedly cultivates the hip-hop culture in his company.
Yang was struck by passion for the first time when he saw his friends dancing. He recalled his heart skipping a beat and the excitement pushing him to become a dancer. Hard work since the age of 14 turned him into a role in the era-defining K-pop group Seo Tae Ji and Boys. For over 30 years as an artist, a producer and a company president, he has listened to his heart in life decisions and never stopped chasing after professional callings. To him, lack of passion or dream would be the biggest misfortune in life.
Yang loves recruiting and working with people who bring complementary talents and new perspectives into the mix. He has the special eye and the tolerance of risks for talents underestimated by other industry professionals, and considers an artist or employee’s future potential more important than current achievement. However, to grow into a star in his hands means a lot of pain and very little sleep. Established vocalist Taeyang produced and polished more than 40 songs over four years of time without receiving even one green light for his album. The president gives his artists the freedom envied by anyone in other Korean record labels while keeping an extremely high bar. His astute music sense and strict quality control were the first things that convinced musicians to follow his leadership.
Devoting 90% of his energy into music and growing as the leader of producers and performers, Yang admitted that he was not a pure artist, rather a businessman. In recent years, he kept tapping into new fields such as fashion, food and beauty. However, in YG, business prosperity ultimately serves artistic needs. Yang started investing in real estate so that he could produce music without worrying about finances. He made it a mission to provide the best environment, materially and psychologically, for his artists to focus freely on music. Yang reportedly possesses the second most real properties among all figures in the Korean entertainment business. However, he never constructed any buildings nor traded his property holdings, because financial investment is only meant to clear obstacles for music creation.
The businessman accumulated his fortune while learning from his real estate broker friend. He waited seven years for the right opportunity to invest and eventually multiplied his assets. When invited to speak at corporations and universities, Yang always gave this tip: passion and quick actions are necessary in arts and businesses; however, it is just as important to be patient for the right timing. Fluent in both Western and Eastern wisdoms, this 45-year-old South Korean entrepreneur has just decided that it’s about time to adventure into the biggest playground for pop music and pop culture – America.
hana 