Coupang Inc., the parent company of Coupang Korea, posted its largest quarterly loss in the first quarter in four years and three months. The revenue growth rate hit the lowest level since its 2021 listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The ‘Talpang’ exodus that followed the personal data leak in Korea last November dragged down results, and customer defections, which had seemed to be slowing, resumed again last month.

New York Stock Exchange-listed Coupang Inc. disclosed on the 5th (local time) that first-quarter revenue was 8.504 billion dollars (12.4597 trillion KRW), up 8% from a year earlier (7.908 billion dollars). Since its 2021 NYSE listing, Coupang Inc. had posted double-digit revenue growth every quarter through last year, but this fell to single digits for the first time. Quarter on quarter, revenue declined for a second straight quarter, following the fourth quarter of last year. Revenue in growth businesses, including Taiwan and Coupang Eats, came to 1.328 billion dollars, up 28% year on year, while revenue in the core Product Commerce segment, which includes Rocket Delivery, rose just 4% to 7.176 billion dollars.

The operating loss for the first quarter was 242 million dollars (354.5 billion KRW), marking a return to the red after seven quarters since the second quarter of 2024. In sheer size, the first-quarter operating loss is more than half of the full-year operating profit recorded last year (679.0 billion KRW). Net loss was 266 million dollars (389.7 billion KRW), also returning to loss. Both operating and net losses were the largest since the fourth quarter of 2021.

Customer use of Coupang also declined. Active users in the first quarter (people who purchased at least once during the period) totaled 23.90 million, down 0.70 million from 24.60 million in the fourth quarter of last year. At the earnings conference call, Coupang Inc. Executive Chairman Bom Suk Kim said, “As of late April, driven by re-registrations of former members and an increase in new sign-ups, we have recovered about 80% of the number of WOW members lost after the data incident.” However, according to the app and retail analytics service Wiseapp Retail, monthly active users at Coupang last month were 33,384,346, down 0.2% from the previous month. After declining for three straight months following the data leak, the figure rose 1% in March this year, only to turn down again after one month.

Coupang fell well short of Wall Street expectations in the first quarter. Earlier, Bloomberg had projected for Coupang Inc. first-quarter revenue of 8.511 billion dollars and an operating loss of 39.27 million dollars. The actual operating loss was six times the forecast. Kim expected that “the impact of the customer purchase vouchers issued in response to the data incident is one-off, largely confined to the first quarter, and will have some effect through early in the second quarter.” In January, Coupang granted discount coupons worth 50,000 won per person (a total of 1.685 trillion KRW) to all 33.70 million members.

Kim said, “January marked the low point for Product Commerce revenue growth, and performance has improved year over year each month since, with the pace of improvement accelerating in February~March,” while adding, “It will take time to fully reflect a fundamental recovery.” Some in the industry also predict that the recovery of Coupang could be slower than expected due to government actions regarding the data leak and tighter regulation following the change of the designated owner (controlling shareholder) of the Coupang entity to Chairman Kim. On the call, Coupang chief financial officer (CFO) Gaurav Anand said, “We are aware of the designation of the (controlling shareholder) in Korea and are reviewing it closely,” and, “As always, we are committed to complying with all regulatory requirements in every market where we operate.”