Payments that were supposed to be made to each of the X1 members still have not been paid out more than a month after the group’s official disbandment.
It has now been 42 days, or 6 weeks, since the disbandment of X1 and the settlement fees for their short period together has still been 0 won. CJ ENM CEO Heo Min Hee stated at his press conference following X1’s disbandment that the company would take full responsibility for the events that led to the group’s disbandment, but the issue of payment for activities has still yet to be solved.
According to insiders via Ilgan Sports, agencies of the X1 members have asked CJ ENM several times to settle the payments for X1’s activities, but there has been no confirmation from CJ ENM. Even though X1 sold out the Gocheok Sky Dome, sold more than 600,000 albums, and participated in overseas events, the members and agencies were still working without pay.
In the meantime, CJ ENM was revealed to have pocketed hundreds of millions of won due to the Produce series, including 88 million ($74,568 USD) just from mobile voting alone.
Back in November 2019, CJ ENM responded to reports that X1 had not been paid yet, stating that payments would be made on a quarterly schedule.
The payments done quarterly, and since it has only been about three months since their debut, it is not time for their payments to be received.
— CJ ENM
An Mnet public relations representative commented with an update on the possibility of the members and agencies getting paid soon.
As X1 hhas disbanded, there are many things that need to be sorted out. It takes a long time to settle everything. We will send a settlement letter to each company soon, to settle the balances.
— Mnet
The Mnet public relations representative also commented on the K-Pop fund that CEO Heo Min Hee stated would be used to grow K-Pop as a whole, with Mnet giving up its portion of the profits.
We are considering how to use the fund. We need to select the company that will manage the fund of 25.3 billion KRW.
— Mnet
However one K-Pop insider commented how Mnet should focus on cleanly finishing X1 and supporting IZ*ONE, before turning to the rest of the K-Pop industry.
It really depends on how we can interpret what Mnet means by giving up their interests, as it is a matter of speech.
Before growing the K-Pop industry growth fund, a clean finish of X1 and supporting IZ*ONE’s activities to the end should come first.
— Insider
