HYBE, the company behind K-pop megastar BTS, posted a sharp rise in first-quarter revenue on the back of the band's comeback, but swung to an operating loss due to a one-off accounting cost tied to stock-based compensation for employees. The company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that its January-March revenue rose 39.5 percent year-on-year to 698.3 billion won ($468 million), marking a record high for a first quarter, which is typically a slow season for the music industry. Operating loss came to 196.6 billion won, compared with a profit of 21.6 billion won a year earlier, missing the market consensus of 42.6 billion-won profit compiled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data service of Yonhap News Agency. Net loss stood at 156.7 billion won. HYBE said the loss reflected a 255 billion-won one-off expense after Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, the company's largest shareholder, granted shares from his personal holdings as employee incentives. The firm said the cost did not involve an actual cash outflow. Excluding the one-off item, adjusted operating profit was 58.5 billion won. Revenue from a