Coupang, Inc. Posts Over 600 Billion Won Operating Loss in Q3, with Fire Costs Estimated at 350 Billion Won

Coupang, Inc., the parent company of Coupang, has recorded an operating loss exceeding 600 billion won in the third quarter.

Despite an increase in revenue, the company failed to escape the deficit, posting its second-largest quarterly loss in history.

Coupang, Inc., listed on the New York Stock Exchange, announced in a regulatory filing on November 3 (local time) that it posted an operating loss of 642.3 billion won ($450 million) in the third quarter of this year, turning to a deficit compared to the same period last year.

This figure was calculated by applying the average won-dollar exchange rate for the third quarter (1,427.52 won per dollar).

Following the personal data leak incident last year and its return to a deficit in the first quarter of this year, Coupang, Inc. has continued to post operating losses for three consecutive quarters.

Previously, the operating loss was 354.5 billion won in the first quarter, and reached a record-high deficit of 835 billion won in the second quarter, which reflected fines related to the personal data leak.

Although the operating deficit for the third quarter is smaller than that of the second quarter, it marks the second-largest quarterly loss scale in history, comparable to the annual operating profit of last year (679 billion won).

Coupang, Inc. stated that the operating loss excluding costs related to the large-scale fire at the Incheon logistics center in July was 288.2 billion won ($202 million), estimating the fire-related costs at approximately 354 billion won ($248 million).

The cumulative operating deficit for the first three quarters stands at 1.8318 trillion won, which approaches the combined operating profit of 1.8987 trillion won recorded over the three years from 2023 to 2025 when Coupang, Inc. posted annual surpluses.

This also exceeds the level of 2021 (1.7088 trillion won), which was the largest annual operating deficit in the company's history since its founding.

Coupang endured losses for over a decade to build its Rocket Delivery infrastructure before finally beginning to turn a profit in 2023, meaning all those accumulated profits have essentially evaporated in just three quarters.

Revenue reached 14.2209 trillion won ($9.962 billion), an 11% increase compared to the third quarter of last year (12.8455 trillion won).

The net loss for the third quarter was 715.1 billion won ($501 million), also turning to a deficit compared to the same period last year and marking the third consecutive quarter of net losses.

Breaking it down by business segment, dollar revenue for Product Commerce (Rocket Delivery, Rocket Fresh, Rocket Growth, and Marketplace) grew 5% year-on-year to $8.374 billion, compared to $7.98 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue converted into Korean won rose 8% year-on-year to 11.954 trillion won, up from 11.0615 trillion won in the same period last year.

Revenue from developing offerings such as Taiwan Rocket Delivery, Farfetch, and Coupang Eats grew 23% to $1.588 billion (2.2669 trillion won) from $1.287 billion in the same period last year.

Based on Korean won conversion, this represents a 27% increase.

Active customers for Product Commerce were tallied at 25.2 million, a 2% increase from 24.7 million in the same period last year, while revenue per active customer rose 6% to 473,930 won ($332) from 447,730 won ($323) in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Coupang, Inc. announced that it repurchased 12.7 million shares ($201 million) of Class A common stock during the third quarter.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.