"Hitman" Bang

Bang Si-hyuk, nicknamed "Hitman" Bang, is a South Korean music executive, record producer and songwriter born in Seoul on 9 August 1972. He studied aesthetics at Seoul National University and began composing while still a student, winning the Yoo Jae-ha Music Contest in 1994.

In 1997 he met Park Jin-young and the two often wrote together. Bang joined JYP Entertainment as a composer, arranger and producer, and work for the group g.o.d earned him the "hitmaker" reputation behind his nickname. About four years later he left to found Big Hit Entertainment in 2005, the company now known as HYBE, where he signed RM, later the leader of BTS.

He has written or produced for acts including Wonder Girls, 2AM, Teen Top, Rain, TXT, Enhypen, LE SSERAFIM, Illit and Katseye. He took several producer and songwriter awards for BTS's 2016 album Wings, was named an International Music Leader by Variety in 2018, and received an honorary business doctorate from Seoul National University in 2022. He stepped down as HYBE's CEO in 2021 and remains its chairman.

Since December 2024 South Korean regulators and police have investigated allegations that he made undisclosed profit-sharing agreements with private equity funds before HYBE's 2020 listing; HYBE denies any legal violation, and these remain allegations.