South Korean e-commerce firm, widely called the Amazon of South Korea, with more than $35bn of sales and a workforce of about 100,000. It listed its shares in America in 2021. Its chief executive is Bom Kim, an American billionaire of South Korean origin.
In November 2025 Coupang revealed that a former employee in China had gained access to data on about 34m customers in South Korea. The leak went undetected for five months. South Korean media called it the biggest data breach in the country's history, though Coupang said only 3,000 accounts were actually accessed. The firm reportedly faces potential fines of at least 1trn won ($700m), seven times what SK Telecom received for a breach affecting more than 23m users. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has also started antitrust investigations unrelated to the breach. Coupang's market capitalisation fell from a peak of $60bn to about $37bn.
Kim declined to attend a parliamentary enquiry, helping turn the episode into a political showdown. Two big Silicon Valley backers—Greenoaks and Altimeter, venture-capital firms with stakes worth a combined $1.5bn—threatened to sue the South Korean government for allegedly violating the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), which went into effect in 2012. They accused South Korea of trying to cripple Coupang, describing its "attacks" as something "US investors might expect from totalitarian adversaries like Venezuela or Russia". J.D. Vance, the vice-president, reportedly warned South Korea's prime minister not to penalise American firms such as Coupang. Coupang had also been facing allegations that it mistreats its warehouse and delivery workers, which it denies.
A clever prophet makes sure of the event first.