A file photo of a Coupang logistics center (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — E-commerce giant Coupang Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter operating loss narrowed sharply from a year earlier on resilient sales.
Operating loss stood at US$67.14 million in the April-June period, down 87 percent from a year earlier, the New York-listed e-commerce behemoth said in a regulatory filing.
It represents the first time since its listing in the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021 that the company’s operating loss has fallen below the 100 billion-won ($76.6 million) mark.
Sales surged 27 percent on-year to $5.04 billion during the three-month period.
Coupang said sales of its product commerce division, including its ultra-fast delivery service called Rocket Delivery, jumped 27 percent on-year to $4.88 billion.
The top line of its new business areas, including online food platform Coupang Eats, also swelled 24 percent. But their second-quarter sales were down 7 percent from three months earlier.
Coupang said its operating loss narrowed for the second straight quarter thanks to efforts to improve profitability.
Its first-quarter operating loss stood at $205.7 million, down 23 percent from a year earlier.
The e-commerce titan said its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came to $66.17 million in the second quarter, the first black ink since the start of the Rocket Delivery service in 2014.
Coupang made its landmark debut on the New York stock market last year in an effort to expand its global presence.
Coupang said its active customers, or those who bought goods through the company at least once in the second quarter, numbered 17.88 million, up 5 percent from a year earlier. But the figure was down 1 percent from the previous quarter.
Spending per active customer amounted to $282, up 7 percent from the same period a year earlier.
In a conference call after the announcement of the second-quarter earnings, Coupang founder and CEO Kim Bom said Coupang is growing at double the pace of South Korea’s overall e-commerce market and will develop into the world’s No. 3 industry player down the road.
Shares in Coupang closed at $19.76 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, up 4.11 percent from the previous session, recovering to the $20 range in after-hours trading for the first time in four months. Coupang’s results were announced after the market closed.
(Yonhap)
