Coupang Posts Record 49 Trillion Won in Revenue Last Year...Falls Short of 50 Trillion Mark (Updated)

Annual revenue up 14% year-on-year
Operating profit up 12.7%...margin edges down
Fourth-quarter operating profit plunges 97% year-on-year
"Personal data incident had a negative impact on fourth-quarter profitability"

Coupang continued its upward trajectory last year with record-high revenue of more than 49 trillion won, but it fell short of the much-anticipated 50 trillion won mark, amid the fallout from a massive personal data leak that broke just before the year-end.

Coupang Inc., listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the parent company of Coupang, announced on the 27th (Korea Standard Time) that its revenue last year reached 34.534 billion dollars (approximately 49.1197 trillion won), up 14% from 30.268 billion dollars (approximately 41.2901 trillion won) a year earlier. This is the highest annual revenue Coupang Inc. has ever recorded. Over the same period, operating profit rose 12.7% to 473 million dollars (approximately 679 billion won). Its annual operating margin edged down from 1.46% to 1.38%.

In the fourth quarter of last year, which included November and December when the personal data leak affecting Korean users was disclosed, Coupang Inc.’s revenue came to 8.835 billion dollars (approximately 12.81 trillion won), up 11%, but operating profit was 8 million dollars (approximately 11.5 billion won), a 97% plunge from 312 million dollars (approximately 435.3 billion won) in the same period a year earlier. Net income for the period also swung to a loss, posting a net loss of 26 million dollars (approximately 37.7 billion won), compared with a net profit of 131 million dollars (approximately 182.7 billion won) a year earlier. The operating margin for the quarter was 0.09%.

In particular, fourth-quarter revenue was 5% lower than the third-quarter revenue of 9.267 billion dollars (approximately 12.8455 trillion won). Since Coupang Inc. went public in 2021, there have been quarters in which revenue in dollar terms declined quarter-on-quarter, but this is the first time that revenue in won terms has fallen. A Coupang Inc. official said, "We estimate that the personal data incident negatively affected our fourth-quarter revenue growth rate, active customer count, Wow membership, and profitability starting in December last year." The official added, "The impact on more recent growth rates has since stabilized, and we have been seeing signs of recovery starting in the first quarter of this year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.