It’s a staggering sum, and that’s the minimum.
Should NewJeans want to terminate their contract without going to court, they would need to pay HYBE at least ₩300 billion KRW (about $225 million USD).
NewJeans is currently embroiled in a battle alongside Min Hee Jin versus HYBE and ADOR‘s new management, demanding HYBE restore Min Hee Jin to her position as ADOR’s CEO and director by September 25.
While the group may attempt to leave HYBE through the court system, should they decide to terminate their contract with HYBE early, it is expected they would need to pay HYBE at least ₩300 billion KRW (about $225 million USD), and as much as double that, ₩600 billion KRW (about $449 million USD).
While the specifics of NewJeans’ contract with ADOR and HYBE were not revealed, Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has a standard early termination fee for idols’ contracts. The early termination fee is calculated by taking the idol’s average monthly revenue over the past two years and then multiplying that by the number of months remaining in the contract at the time of early termination. While exact revenue numbers for NewJeans were not revealed, this is where the estimate of at least ₩300 billion KRW (about $225 million USD) comes from.
