There have been rumours the last few days that Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun broke up. So far that’s not confirmed and sources have told multiple outlets that JB is still being managed by Scooter…at least for now.

 

Yesterday, however, both Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande announced they are no longer working with Scooter. Matthew Belloni has been all over this: 

He was the one who first mentioned Justin Bieber, which is why people are wondering if that’s just a matter of time, despite the denials. 

 

Scooter isn’t just famous for his association with JB, of course. We all know by now why there’s a whole section dedicated to him in Taylor Swift’s burn book after he acquired her masters. That’s why Swifties have been partying for the last 24 hours. Because with both Demi and Ariana dumping him on the same day, there’s speculation that there’s some kind of scandal that’s about to drop. 

Scooter is currently the CEO of HYBE America. HYBE is most well-known for producing BTS. Scooter’s company, Ithica Holdings, was merged into HYBE in 2021. It was a billion dollar deal, resulting in a huge payday for Scooter but also for his clients. Per Variety:

“A commitment of $50 million of Braun’s personal stock was disbursed to acts and employees who have been with Braun since he started SBP in 2007. Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande received 53,557 apiece — translating to roughly $10 million each — while Balvin received 21,423 shares. Demi Lovato was allocated 5,355. Smaller slices of the pie were parceled out to other artists on the label’s roster, such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Asher Roth, as well as producer Andrew Watt, Migos rapper Quavo, producer Tommy Brown and songwriter Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, among others.”

 

So the acquisition was profitable for Justin and also for Ariana. But …was it profitable enough? In the gossip ecosystem, the stories that get the most attention are not unlike what plays well in a reality show headline: cheating or backstabbing, soap opera sh-t. In Hollywood, though, off-camera, the stickiest, trickiest, messiest sh-t happens over money. While we wait for more tea to be spilled then, and again, it’s very possible that there might be some f-ckery that’s about to be exposed, let’s not rule out that it could also come back to what it often comes back to in the business: cold, hard cash. 

As for Scooter’s future, obviously the Ithica acquisition/merger with HYBE was attractive at the time because of Scooter’s client roster. If he continues losing clients, it’ll be very interesting to see whether or not HYBE continues to have confidence in him. Up to this point he’s had their full support – and that’s been powerful, considering the impact that HYBE has made on the industry so far and their plans to continue making a bigger space for themselves in the western market. But if Scooter keeps taking these kinds of hits, he might risk being cut loose by them too. And that’s the relationship he really wants to hang onto. 

Attached - Justin and Hailey Bieber out last night in LA.