Coupang, Inc. is a South-Korean-founded and American Delaware-incorporated technology and online retail company headquartered in Seattle, Washington and incorporated in Delaware.[5][6][7] Founded in 2010 by Bom Kim, the company operates a retail business, food delivery service, and OTT streaming service, with offices and operations in South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, India, Japan and Singapore.[8][9]
The company expanded into video streaming distribution with the launch of its Coupang Play service. Coupang is often referred to as the "Amazon of Asia", due to its position and corporate size in the South Korean online market.[10] Coupang was named to the Fortune 200 in 2023 and 2024 and Fortune 150 in 2025.[11][12]
Overview
The largest online retailer in South Korea,[13] Coupang's annual revenue as of 2021 was US$18.4 billion.[14][15] The company's Rocket Delivery network provides same-day or next-day delivery of more than five million unique items.[16] As of 2018, Coupang claimed that 99.6 percent of its orders were delivered within 24 hours.[17] 70% of Korean citizens lived within 10 minutes of a Coupang logistic center in 2020.[18]
Coupang was headquartered in Songpa District, Seoul, South Korea, until 2022 when it relocated to Seattle in the US.[19]
Financials
The company announced in 2020 that its annual revenue in 2019 increased by 64.2 percent over the previous year, and totaled 7.15 trillion won ($5.9 billion).[32] Its operating loss in 2019 dropped from 1.13 trillion won to 720.5 billion won, declining 36 percent.[32] The gains were attributed to expanded fast delivery service across the nation, including the overnight Rocket Delivery; sales of home appliances and fresh food; and a steady increase in customers.[32] The company had created 2,500 jobs in 2014 and 30,000 in 2019; labor costs increased correspondingly from 100 billion won in 2014 to 1.4 trillion won in 2019.[32] In 2020, the COVID pandemic accelerated the company's sales.
According to SoftBank, Coupang's estimated value is $9 billion, and it has earned $3.4 billion venture funding to date.[33] SoftBank funded the company with $2 billion in 2018 and $1 billion in 2015.[33]
Services
Rocket Delivery
Coupang is known for its fast delivery system.[38] Rocket Delivery is a signature service whereby items ordered before midnight will be delivered overnight by Coupang's own delivery personnel.[39] In July 2020, Coupang's Rocket Delivery staff was renamed from Coupangman to Coupangfriend, since the number of female delivery workers has increased, and to imply friendly service.[40]
Rocket Delivery service is free for the Coupang Rocket membership subscribers, for whom delivery is free for all Rocket Delivery tagged products.[41] Rocket Delivery is offered to non-subscribers if they purchase more than KRW4,990. It is estimated that 32% of Coupang users are subscribed.[41]
Coupang Taiwan
In October 2022, Coupang launched in Taiwan introducing its overnight shipping Rocket Delivery and Rocket Overseas direct overseas purchase.[59] Through Rocket Delivery, customers in Taiwan can order daily necessities and groceries for delivery the following day. If the ordered products come to NT$490 or more, they are delivered free of charge. In addition to the Rocket Delivery service within Taiwan, Coupang has also launched a Rocket Overseas service, allowing Taiwanese consumers to directly purchase goods from the United States and Korea, with free delivery of total purchase of NT$690 or more.[60]
Coupang became the most downloaded app in the second quarter of 2023 in Taiwan.[61] In November 2023, Coupang launched its second logistics center with the third logistics center expected to be in operation in 2024.[62]
Controversy
Worker wellbeing
Coupang has been involved in complaints by activists and families of workers who allegedly died from overwork. In April 2021 Kwon Young-gook, a lawyer and the co-chairman at the Committee for Coupang Workers' Human Rights and Health, said "Seven Coupang employees and two subcontractors have died of cardiovascular disorders, such as heart attack, for the past year. ... Out of the nine deaths, five are connected to overnight work as they passed away during or after night duty."[63][64] According to statistics published in the Korea Economic Daily, Coupang had recorded no work-accident deaths since its launch in 2011, as of the end of 2020. In April 2021, the company introduced Coupang Care, a system that allows employees to take paid breaks and receive health care coaching.[65]
In November 2025 the Korea Times reported that workplace deaths were becoming a persistent issue at Coupang and that since 2020 twenty-seven Coupang workers have died whilst at work according to the Taekbae Union which represents couriers. They note that before Coupang Inc. was listed on the NYSE in 2021, Coupang founder Bom Kim resigned from all registered titles relating to Coupang Corp. thus severing himself from any legal liability related to his registered executive positions in Korea whilst still holding over 70 percent of voting rights in Coupang Inc. and retaining influence over the company's affairs.
External links
References
- How a Harvard dropout founded South Korea's most valuable start-up CNBC^
- Coupang, Inc. 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 25 February 2025^
- Statement of acquisition of beneficial ownership by individuals (SoftBank)