Lee Chae-yeon at Seoul Fashion Week S/S 2025 on September 07, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Tiffany Boubkeur/Getty Images)
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Despite RBW Inc. experiencing two major shakeups with both singer Lee Chaeyeon and founder Lee Won-min exiting its WM Entertainment label at the week’s close, the agency saw a slight spike in the markets.
With a positive week on the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) trading board, RBW Inc.’s stock closed at 2,345 Korean won (approximately $1.68), gaining 60 KRW (about four cents), which delivered a 2.63% increase for the day to close up 5.87% for the week ultimately.
Lee Chaeyeon Leaves WM Entertainment After IZ*ONE & Solo Career
After seven years representing K-pop label WM Entertainment in the industry, singer-dancer superstar Lee Chaeyeon is exiting the agency.
After initially training under JYP Entertainment and competing for a spot in the 2015 reality competition that launched massive girl group TWICE, Chaeyeon joined WM Entertainment in hopes of officially making her K-pop debut. In 2018, she represented WM on Produce 48, another girl-group competition series, ultimately ending up as one of 12 winners and becoming a member of the Korean-Japanese girl group IZ*ONE. With the group only set to work together for two-and-a-half years, IZ*ONE managed to sell nearly three million records across their K- and J-pop releases before officially disbanding in April 2021.
While Chaeyeon remained an active face in the K-entertainment scene on music and variety shows post-IZ*ONE, the star made her debut as a soloist in late 2022 with the EP, Hush Rush. She ultimately landed her breakout solo hit with her sophomore release Over the Moon and its lead single “Knock” (above) reaching the Top 30 of South Korea’s singles chart and its accompanying music video earning nearly 45 million views on YouTube to date.
With more than 100,000 copies sold from her four EP releases between 2022 and 2024, Chaeyeon took on acting this summer as one of the lead roles in the web series Fresh Romance.
On September 12, WM Entertainment announced the two parties had decided to part ways with the company still supporting her as she wrapped up her final commitments under the label’s management. The full statement below (with translations provided by Soompi):
Hello.
This is WM Entertainment.
After lengthy discussions with Lee Chaeyeon, we have agreed to terminate her exclusive contract.
Also, we will continue to support her work for the time being so that she can carry out her planned schedule without any issues.
We would like to sincerely thank Lee Chaeyeon, who has been with us for a long time while growing as a member of IZ*ONE and as a solo artist, and we will continue to root for Lee Chaeyeon in the future as she makes a new start.
We would also like to thank the fans who have given Lee Chaeyeon their consistent affection and attention up until now, and we ask that you continue to give her future endeavors your unchanging love and interest as well.
Thank you.
WM Entertainment CEO Steps Down
Lee Chaeyeon wasn’t the only exit from RBW’s WM Entertainment that had the industry talking this week.
According to an exclusive story by Korean media outlet StarNews, company CEO and namesake Lee Won-min (the WM in WM Entertainment) had stepped down from his position after 17 years. The September 12 report shared that RBW had actually fired Lee in August, citing declining profitability, management difficulties, and disagreements over new artist direction. RBW is the largest shareholder of WM, which acts as an independent subsidiary under RBW alongside other well-known K-pop labels like DSP Media and Urban Works Media.
The report adds that RBW’s co-CEO Kim Jin-woo is now leading WM Entertainment, though several other key executives have reportedly also left WM following Lee’s dismissal.
Before founding WM Entertainment, Lee Won-min was actually a singer in Korea known as Kim Jung-soo. Upon formally changing his name and establishing WM Entertainment, the label soon signed singers Taegoon and Ahn Jin-kyung with the former’s debut album including production from future HYBE founder Bang Si-Hyuk. By 2011, WM began making a larger name for itself with the debut of its first boy band, B1A4, who released several No. 1 albums and hit singles in Korea. The company continued to grow its success with different idol acts: WM debuted the hit-making girl group, Oh My Girl, in 2015 and another popular boy band, ONF, in 2017. Though not every launch was a runaway success with the 2017 debut of female soloist named I (who is also the younger sister of B1A4 member Baro) released one EP, I Dream, but exited the company a year later. Baro and Jinyoung of B1A4 also departed WM and B1A4 in 2011.
Before Lee Chaeyeon’s exit this year, Oh My Girl members YooA and Arin also ended their contracts with WM Ent but promised to remain with the girl group.
What’s Next for WM Ent: ONF? USPEER? New Group?
With these shakeups, the future of WM Entertainment is not entirely clear, though there are some indications of where the company could be heading with future releases.
In February, ONF released their six-track ONF:MY IDENTITY record, which is said to be the first half of the group’s new full-length album. Fans should expect at least one more EP of new music to complete the LP, though the group has only followed up with a single titled “Summer Light” that commemorated their eighth anniversary.
Additionally, WM launched its first girl group in 10 years with the June debut of USPEER. The seven-member girl group kicked off their career with the single “ZOOM,” which has sold more than 25,000 physical copies to date as one of the more noteworthy K-pop debuts of 2025.
Meanwhile, B1A4 hasn’t released new music this year, and Oh My Girl has only released two separate singles, leaving the chance for future releases to be in the works. The StarNews report also cites a new group for WM, though it wasn’t clear if the news referred to USPEER or a future act.
Still, investors seem confident in RBW’s future, where WM is seemingly going to play an even larger role in moving forward. RBW Inc.’s stock is down 10.5% year-to-date.