Coupang Chairman Kim Bum-seok Says Data Breach Recovery Will Take Time

Coupang founder and Coupang Inc. Chairman Kim Bum-seok said the company will need time for a full recovery from last year’s personal data breach, though the impact from customer departures has eased. He said compensation costs and temporary inefficiencies in the logistics network weighed on first-quarter results.

Speaking on a first-quarter earnings conference call held on May 6 (Korea time), Kim said product commerce revenue growth hit its low point in January, then improved each month year over year, with the pace of improvement accelerating in February and March.

Coupang Inc. reported first-quarter revenue of 12.4597 trillion won, up 8% from 11.4876 trillion won a year earlier. It posted an operating loss of 354.5 billion won, about 52% of its 2025 full-year operating profit of 679.0 billion won. It was the first time Coupang’s quarterly revenue growth fell to a single-digit rate.

Kim cited compensation tied to the data breach and temporary logistics inefficiencies as key drivers of the operating loss. In January, Coupang issued purchase vouchers worth 50,000 won per person to 33.7 million people in connection with the breach, for a total cost of 1.6850 trillion won.

Kim said Coupang’s facility expansion and supply-chain planning are adjusted to demand trends based on predictable customer patterns. When external factors such as the data breach disrupt those patterns, he said, actual demand can fall short of planned demand, leaving the company to carry idle capacity and inventory costs during that period.

Still, Kim said the recovery trend is continuing. “It will take time for year-over-year growth rates to fully reflect a fundamental recovery,” he said, adding that the January-to-March revenue growth trend is running ahead of past trends and that year-over-year comparisons will keep improving through the year.

Kim said the company will continue to expand. “Beyond recovery, efforts to build the business are continuing,” he said, adding that automation and artificial intelligence across services, including logistics and delivery networks, are improving service levels while reducing costs. He said the changes are expected to contribute significantly to better customer experience and wider margins.