Bom Kim, the founder and executive chairman of Coupang (Image courtesy of Coupang
SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – In a significant move that cements his position among South Korea’s most successful entrepreneurs, Bom Kim, the founder and executive chairman of Coupang, has announced plans for a major stock sale, fourteen years after founding the company and three years after its landmark NYSE debut.
Kim, who moved to the United States in 1994 at age 16 when his father, then an employee at Hyundai Construction, was transferred there, founded Coupang in 2010 with initial capital of 3 billion won after graduating from Harvard University. The timing coincided with the emerging growth of social commerce utilizing online media.
The company, whose name playfully suggests an explosion of coupons, initially focused on selling bulk discount vouchers before expanding into general merchandise, marking its transformation into a full-fledged e-commerce operation.
Central to Coupang’s astronomical growth, despite sustained losses, was the robust financial backing from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, led by Masayoshi Son. The Vision Fund has poured $3.4 billion into Coupang, enabling massive investments including the construction of integrated logistics centers across South Korea.
Over the past decade, Coupang’s total investments have reached 6.2 trillion won, resulting in the establishment of over 100 logistics facilities nationwide.
Following its successful NYSE listing in March 2021, Kim’s personal wealth soared to $8.9 billion at its peak, though it has since settled to around $3 billion. According to Forbes, his current net worth of $3.2 billion ranks him 11th among South Korea’s wealthiest individuals.
Kim, who has maintained his leadership role since founding, holds 174,802,990 Class B shares with voting rights 29 times stronger than Class A common shares. Under his stewardship, Coupang became the first South Korean e-commerce company to list on the U.S. stock market and reported its first annual profit last year.
The company’s growth continues to impress, with quarterly revenues exceeding 10 trillion won in both the second and third quarters of 2024, putting it on track to potentially become the first single retail company in South Korea to achieve 40 trillion won in annual sales.
Its active customer base has reached 20.2 million as of the third quarter of 2024, representing 59.4% of South Korea’s total e-commerce users (34 million).
The planned stock sale involves up to 15 million shares, with an additional 2 million shares earmarked for charitable donations, totaling 9.7% of Kim’s holdings. Coupang stated the sale is intended to “meet significant financial obligations, including tax responsibilities.”
Despite the scale of the planned divestment, Kim’s control over Coupang is expected to remain largely unchanged. Industry analysts estimate his voting rights will decrease marginally from 75.8% to 73.7% post-transaction, while his ownership stake will slip from 9.77% to 8.8%.
The announcement follows a similar move by Vision Fund, which sold 57 million shares at $29.685 per share in September 2021, six months after Coupang’s IPO, realizing gains of $1.69 billion. Earlier this year, Coupang CEO Han Seung Kang also sold 40,000 shares at $23 per share for tax purposes, generating approximately 1.29 billion won.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
