Justin Bieber just wrapped up some serious unfinished business with his ex-manager, Scooter Braun, cutting a check that amounted to a jaw-dropping $31.5 million.
After holding fans in suspense for almost two years about where they were, this payment finally puts their offstage drama in the spotlight. As reported by various insider sources, the whopping amount is split between two components: $26 million paid back to settle the advance Scooter and his firm HYBE put up for the scrapped 2022 Justice World Tour, and another $5.5 million to pay for unpaid commissions. Yeah, $31.5 million isn’t chump change.
The fallout was not sudden. The two had been slowly drifting apart since 2022, with Bieber having parted company from Braun’s management empire that also previously managed the careers of Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato. HYBE suffered a financial loss paying off the advance for Bieber’s scrapped tour, so it was then apparent that there was going to be a financial reckoning. This week, the figures are final.
Neither side has publicly commented yet, but People and TMZ reports affirm that the payoff has been finalized and the slate is clean. It’s a clean break from one of music’s greatest manager-artist partnerships, and the conclusion of a union that began back in the YouTube era when Braun caught wind of 12-year-old Bieber on the internet and became instrumental in propelling him to superstardom.
The past two years had already borne witness to drifting apart. Bieber notably dropped Braun from Instagram earlier this year, fueling rumors that things had turned icy. Then Braun at long last broke his silence on where they were in a June episode of Diary of a CEO. “It’s not that same that it was,” he confessed. “We worked together for so long and had such extreme success.” And he wasn’t bitter, just honest. “You get to a point as a man where you want to show the world you can do it on your own, and I completely respect that.”
To Braun’s credit, there’s no public animosity. “Myself and all of the guys from the old team are wishing him all the best,” he said, wishing Bieber well as he forges a new trail in the business.
It’s a dramatic departure from their previous dynamic, particularly during Braun’s very publicized fight with Taylor Swift over her master recordings in 2019. Bieber had been firmly in Scooter’s corner back then, sharing a now-infamous throwback Instagram shot of himself and Swift with a defending caption of Braun: “Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you!”
That level of loyalty made it all the more shocking when Bieber began to step back. But like Braun intimated, maybe just maybe it was time. Years of being in the same camp’s care have made it clear that Bieber wants to get behind the wheel himself. A $31.5 million check indicates he means business about beginning anew, even if it costs an arm and a leg.
With that financial loose end wrapped up, Bieber has a little space to breathe and start anew however he chooses, new squad, new era, and no remaining tethers to the past. Braun has also turned the page, meanwhile. After bowing out of artist management in 2024, he looks set to redirect his efforts, maybe fully diving into executive roles via HYBE or moving towards completely fresh ventures.
Whatever the future holds for either of them, one thing’s certain: this move is the official full stop on a collaboration that once epitomized contemporary pop stardom. The figures are stark, the deals are done, and the future, on both fronts, is wide open.
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