April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean e-commerce giant Coupang announced on April 6 that its sales jumped 40 percent on-year in 2017 to reach 2.68 trillion won (US$2.49 billion).

At the same time, its operating loss widened to 638.8 billion won from 560 billion won, but the company appeared unconcerned, saying it was inevitable due to investments in logistics and widening its product portfolio. The company currently operates 54 logistics centers and has more than seven million items that can be delivered through its signature 24-hour Rocket Delivery service.

“We are determined to serve our customers with more high-quality products,” Coupang founder and CEO Bom Kim said in a statement.

The company also said it has “abundant” liquidity, citing its cash reserves of 813 billion won as of end-2017, up from 303 billion won in 2016. “Our US unit injected funds by buying newly issued shares,” a Coupang spokesperson told The Investor.

Most recently, Coupang received fresh funding of 300 billion won from Goldman Sachs after using up around US$1.6 billion investments from investors including Sequoia Capital and Black Rock and SoftBank.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)