For K-pop sleuths, you're familiar with a Korean agency called ABYSS that manages artists like Sunmi and Melomance. But only the true insiders know that this same agency also owns Dplus KIA.
We took a look at the agency's accounts, which unsurprisingly paint a picture of costly esports.
ABYSS, the star agency of Gangnam
Let's start with what's going well. Abyss Company is a talent agency based in Seoul's upscale Gangnam district. Its activities span music, advertising, events, management, and audiovisual productions built around its talents.
Abyss posted revenue of $23.9M in 2024 (+54% YoY). Profit reached $8M in 2024, up from $4.4M the previous year. Abyss is performing, and more broadly, the K-pop entertainment agency model is paying off.
The weight is called ADE Sports
Within Abyss's accounts, one subsidiary is wholly owned (100%): ADE.
A bit of digging links it to Damwon Gaming, now Dplus KIA. The subsidiary is consolidated using the equity method, meaning its losses flow directly into Abyss's bottom line, line by line.
Over two financial years, DK has cost its parent company more than $6.7M — an amount that at the time exceeded the agency's entire revenue and closely matches the club's own 2023 revenue of roughly $6.8M. What Sunmi, Melomance, and the other artists brought in wasn't enough to cover what the esports club swallowed on the other side of the balance sheet.
What would be interesting is knowing how much ABYSS was committed to making DolusKIA evolve or only interested in the status the club has with their eSports titles The ecosystem is totally different than the one we have in Europe where co-streamers owned structures lead the EMEA. This kind of article is really interesting and I wonder how it looks like in Brazil