Coupang Inc. Reports First-Quarter Earnings Shock After Data Breach, Posts Largest Loss in Over Four Years (Update)
by Kim Heungsoon
Published 06 May.2026 05:45(KST)
First-Quarter Operating Loss Reaches 354.5 Billion Won, Turning to Red from Last Year
Largest Loss Since Q4 2021 Despite 8% Revenue Growth
Deficit Widens Beyond Wall Street Projections
Impact Attributed to Talpang and Costs from Compensation Coupons
Coupang Inc., the parent company of Coupang, posted its largest quarterly operating loss in over four years, following the massive personal data breach that occurred in Korea last year.
According to the consolidated earnings report Coupang Inc., a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 6 (Korea Standard Time), revenue for the first quarter of this year was $8.504 billion, up 8% from $7.908 billion in the same period last year. Converted at the average won-dollar exchange rate for the first quarter (1,465.16 KRW), this amounts to approximately 12.4597 trillion won.
Coupang's quarterly revenue declined for the second consecutive quarter compared to the previous quarter, following 12.8103 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year. In addition, the first-quarter revenue growth rate (8%) was the lowest since Coupang's listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, marking the first time the company failed to achieve a double-digit quarterly growth rate. The previous lowest quarterly revenue growth rate was 14% in the fourth quarter of last year.
The first-quarter operating loss was $242 million (approximately 354.5 billion won), turning to a loss from an operating profit of $154 million (about 233.7 billion won) in the same period last year. Net loss for the quarter was $266 million (about 389.7 billion won), also swinging to a loss from a net profit of $114 million (about 165.6 billion won) a year earlier. This marks the first loss in seven quarters since the second quarter of 2024, and the largest quarterly loss in four years and three months since the fourth quarter of 2021. At that time, the operating loss and net loss were $396.59 million (about 480 billion won) and $404.97 million (about 522 billion won), respectively.
Coupang Inc.'s first-quarter results also fell significantly short of Wall Street analysts' forecasts. Earlier, Bloomberg projected first-quarter revenue of $8.511 billion, an operating loss of $39.27 million, and a net loss of around $100 million. However, actual revenue was slightly lower and the operating loss was more than five times higher than expected. This is attributed to the so-called "Talpang" phenomenon, where users left the platform following the personal data breach in Korea at the end of last year, and to additional costs incurred from Coupang's compensation efforts, such as issuing discount coupons.
As of 5:15 a.m. on this day, Coupang Inc.'s share price was trading down approximately 3-4% in after-hours trading immediately following the close of the New York Stock Exchange.
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