After a data breach, a record fine and a warehouse fire, Coupang says its customers have come back, and many are spending more than ever.

The New York-listed company reported third-quarter revenue of US$9.96 billion, up 7 per cent year on year. However, it posted an operating loss of $450 million, against a $162 million profit a year earlier, and a net loss of $501 million. 

It is the company’s third consecutive quarterly loss, and the operating loss for the nine months of 2026 now stands at $1.25 billion. 

“Momentum continued to build across the business in Q3,” founder and chief executive Bom Kim told analysts on the earnings call. The question hanging over the results is how long it will take that momentum to show up in profit.

In late November 2025, the company disclosed that personal information linked to 33.7 million customer accounts had been exposed, the largest data leak in South Korea’s history. Some members of Coupang’s paid membership, Wow, cancelled. The number of active customers in its core retail business, meaning people who bought at least once in a quarter, fell from 24.6 million at the end of 2025 to 23.9 million in the first quarter of this year. 

7 billion won (about US$409 million), more than three times its previous record penalty, imposed on SK Telecom in 2025. That fine pushed the second quarter to the largest quarterly operating loss since Coupang listed in 2021.

Source link