Coupang posts $450mn Q3 operating loss on higher expenses

Coupang Inc., the parent company of South Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang, reported an operating loss of more than 600 billion won ($448.4 million) in the third quarter, extending its losing streak to three consecutive quarters despite higher revenue.

According to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, local time, the U.S.-listed company posted an operating loss of 642.3 billion won for the July-September period, reversing from a profit a year earlier. The won figure is based on the third-quarter average exchange rate of 1,427.52 won per dollar.

Coupang first swung to a loss in the first quarter following a personal data breach last year and has remained in the red since. It reported an operating loss of 354.5 billion in the first quarter and a record 835 billion won in the second quarter, which included a fine related to the data breach.

Although the third-quarter loss narrowed from the previous quarter, it was the company’s second-largest quarterly operating loss on record, roughly equivalent to its full-year operating profit of 679 billion won in 2025.

Coupang said its operating loss excluding expenses related to a major fire at its Incheon logistics center in July stood at 288.2 billion won. The costs associated with the fire are estimated at about 354 billion won.

Operating expenses also increased.

The cost of sales accounted for 74.3 percent of revenue, up from 70.6 percent a year earlier, while operating, general and administrative expenses rose 17.7 percent to $3 billion.

Coupang’s cumulative operating loss for the first nine months reached 1.8 trillion won, nearly matching the 1.9 trillion won in combined operating profits it generated over the three years from 2023 to 2025. The nine-month loss also exceeded the previous record full-year operating loss of 1.7 trillion won in 2021.

After more than a decade of losses to build its Rocket Delivery logistics network, Coupang first turned profitable in 2023. Its cumulative losses this year have now wiped out nearly all the operating profits earned over the subsequent three years.

Revenue rose 11 percent from a year earlier to 14.2 trillion won in the third quarter, compared with 12.8 trillion won in the third quarter of last year.

Net loss reached 715.1 billion won, also reversing from a year-earlier profit and marking the third consecutive quarter in the red.

Product Commerce, including Rocket Delivery, Rocket Fresh, and Rocket Growth, generated $8.4 billion in revenue, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

Revenue from Developing Offerings, which include Rocket Delivery in Taiwan, Farfetch, and Coupang Eats, climbed 23 percent to $1.6 billion.

The number of active Product Commerce customers totaled 25.2 million, up 2 percent from 24.7 million a year earlier. Average sales per active customer rose 6 percent to $332.

During a conference call, Chairman Kim Bom-suk said the number of Wow Membership subscribers in Korea had reached a record high, with both membership renewals and new sign-ups increasing.

He said customers who had left after the data breach and later returned were spending more than before, while those who had stayed continued to show spending trends similar to those seen before the incident.

Some customers, however, had yet to return, weighing on earnings growth. Their absence will no longer affect year-on-year comparisons next year, he added.

Chief Financial Officer Gaurav Anand forecast fourth-quarter sales growth of 13 to 14 percent on a constant-currency basis, citing an expected continued recovery in Product Commerce.

Anand also said the upper end of the company’s projected full-year loss range of $905 million to $1 billion would be raised by $50 million to $100 million, mainly because Coupang is accelerating investment to expand its supply chain in Taiwan.