Coupang posts biggest quarterly loss since New York listing

Coupang posted record quarterly revenue in the second quarter but also its largest quarterly loss since listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, weighed down by a massive fine over a personal data breach in November of last year.

Coupang Inc., the U.S. parent company of the e-commerce platform Coupang, posted revenue of $8.86 billion in the April-June period, up 4 percent from a year earlier and 8 percent from the previous quarter, according to the second quarter earnings report filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, the company's second quarter operating loss widened to $556 million, far larger than the 500 billion won ($350 million) operating loss that analysts had anticipated. Just a year earlier, Coupang had posted $149 million in operating profit in the first quarter of last year.

The second quarter loss followed an earlier operating loss in the first quarter of 2026, bringing total operating losses for the first half of the year to about 1.22 trillion won and effectively wiping out most of the operating profit the company had generated over the past two years.

Most of the loss stemmed from a record fine imposed over the personal data breach that exposed the personal information of millions of customers in November last year.

In June, the Personal Information Protection Commission fined Coupang 624.6 billion won and imposed an additional administrative penalty of 16.8 million won over the leak. The fine was recognized as a selling, general and administrative expense in the second quarter, which pushed operating expenses up 26 percent on year to $3.05 billion.

“The Korean won weakened significantly versus the U.S. dollar during the quarter, reaching its weakest level in more than 15 years. As a result, our reported growth rates in U.S. dollars understate the underlying growth of our business,” Gaurav Anand, chief financial officer at Coupang, said during Coupang's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

“Our product commerce results this quarter include $410 million in administrative fines recently imposed by Korean regulatory authorities. While these fines are still subject to judicial review and we plan to appeal them through the courts, we recorded the expenses this quarter within OG&A [Operating, General and Administrative expenses] in the P&L [Profit and Loss statement].”

Fortunately for the company, signs of a customer exodus following the data breach have largely subsided.

The second quarter revenue from Coupang's core product commerce business, including Rocket Delivery and Rocket Fresh, rose 1 percent from a year earlier, while the number of active users increased 3 percent to more than 24 million.

“The spend of all customers, excluding just those that left during the incident and haven't returned, is growing around 16% year over year, which is closer to the spend growth product commerce delivered in Q2 last year before the incident,” said Coupang Inc. Chairman Bom Kim.

“Spend growth does outpace revenue growth but the gap between the 16 percent and the reported 8 percent revenue growth is driven mostly by the missing spend of the cohort that hasn't returned. We'll keep chipping away at earning them back. And after we lap the affected periods, we expect the spend growth for all of product commerce.”

The company also warned that additional losses are expected in the second half of the year.

“The National Tax Service completed a tax audit in June on our corporate tax and value-added tax filings and notified us that we owed an additional $208 million, including penalties and interest,” a Coupang representative said. “We plan to contest the assessment in court, but if the amount is included in our third quarter earnings, our losses will inevitably widen.”

The retail industry also expects the Fair Trade Commission to impose a fine of around 200 billion won over allegations that Coupang Eats required merchants to offer terms no less favorable than those provided to rival delivery platforms.

In addition, losses of about 350 billion won from last month's fire at Coupang's Incheon logistics center are expected to be reflected in third-quarter results. While the company carries fire and liability insurance, insurance payouts typically take years because losses must first be finalized.

Additional liabilities and expenses related to the fire, including losses resulting from damage to or the unavailability of the facility and possible regulatory fines, could also be reflected in the company's earnings. If all of the anticipated losses are recognized, Coupang is expected to post an operating loss of more than 2 trillion won this year.

Coupang shares still rose 0.36 percent to close at $16.78 on Tuesday despite the larger-than-expected loss.

BY CHOI HYUN-JU [shin.woojin@joongang.co.kr]