According to Chosunbiz, Galaxy Corporation paid G-Dragon (Kwon Ji Yong, member of Big Bang) 10 billion won in cash and 10 billion won in the form of stock options when signing an exclusive contract with the male artist in November 2023.
The company's value at the time G-Dragon signed the contract was estimated at about 470 billion won. G-Dragon's stake is estimated at more than 2%.
Currently, Galaxy Corporation's largest shareholder is CEO Choi Yong Ho (21.99%) and financial investors (FI) including Shinhan Financial Group, KB Financial Group, T Investment, Korea Investment Partners and Crit Ventures.
One explained that G-Dragon received half of the exclusive contract fee as a stock option, rather than cash, because he expected the company's value to increase.
And G-Dragon's judgment seems to be in the right direction. Galaxy Corporation is currently pursuing listing on the KOSDAQ. Investors predict the company's value is around more than 1 trillion won. If the listing is successful, G-Dragon's stock could increase to 20-30 billion won.
An entertainment industry figure said: When celebrities receive a portion of their exclusive contract fees in the form of stock options, it is a symbolic act of forming a strategic partnership with the company.
Since its establishment in 2019, Galaxy Corporation has focused on combining AI and metaverse technology (virtual universe technology) with the entertainment industry. The company is developing its own Metaverse AI and environment tools, aiming to build a trading platform using this technology.
When signing G-Dragon, Galaxy Corporation said, "We will go beyond the simple corporate relationship with G-Dragon and challenge ourselves to do things that have never been done before. With a pioneering spirit, we will strive to show an aspect of G-Dragon that the audience has never seen before".
As a singer, G-Dragon also shows interest in applying technology to the entertainment industry. G-Dragon is currently a visiting professor in the Mechanical Department of the Korea Institute of Advanced Sciences and Technology (KAIST).
In April this year, the singer collaborated with KAIST, launching a project using Sora of Azure OpenAI, an artificial intelligence service provided by Microsoft's Azure platform, to broadcast his musical work along with the MV made using Sora technology into space.
