Do not be misled by Coupang’s lobbying and public relations campaign!

Do not be misled by Coupang’s lobbying and public relations campaign claiming that the Korean government is persecuting the company.

Coupang makes its money in Korea, enriches its founder Bom Kim, and seeks to preserve a status akin to that of Korea’s powerful conglomerate owners—while misleading the U.S. government and the American public in the process.

Coupang has been implicated in a wide range of serious misconduct. Workers have reportedly died from overwork, yet the company has repeatedly attributed these deaths to pre-existing medical conditions or individual health issues. In some cases, Coupang has even been accused of manipulating CCTV footage showing employees at work in order to deflect responsibility. More troubling still, these allegedly unlawful practices are said to have been directed from the very top—by Bom Kim himself.

At the same time, Coupang has actively lobbied U.S. politicians, urging them to pressure the Korean government on the company’s behalf.

From the American perspective, Coupang may appear to be a “good company” that earns money in Korea while paying taxes in the United States. But that image does not fully reflect reality.

In fact, Coupang’s profitability in Korea is not particularly strong. The company struggled with losses for many years and has survived largely by securing additional investment capital. No other Korean company operates its logistics network in the same way Coupang does—because no other company is willing to sacrifice workers to the same extent in order to deliver everything from dawn delivery to same-day shipping.

A business model that relies on sustained losses and the sacrifice of workers raises a fundamental question: how long can it last? What appears to be stability is, at best, a fragile reliance on scale rather than genuine profitability.

If Coupang ultimately becomes another failed American company in Korea, it will be U.S. investors who bear the brunt of the losses. The physical logistics assets deployed in Korea would simply be absorbed by other Korean firms. Because Coupang has not been operated like a typical Korean company—with a long-term focus on safety and sustainable investment—its long-term viability is highly questionable.

Bom Kim becoming Bomb Kim

Bom Kim may eventually choose to sell the company at a certain point, cash out at a high valuation, and enjoy a comfortable life. Investors, meanwhile, could be left holding shares in a hollowed-out company, anxiously watching as their stock risks turning into little more than scrap paper.

The possibility that Coupang could become a so-called “zombie company,” or a corporate shell sold off piecemeal at fire-sale prices, is by no means remote.

It has been reported that Coupang’s stock rose by 6.4% in a single day recently. That surge, however, reflects the fact that many American investors have been taken in by Coupang’s lobbying narrative that it is a “U.S. company.” In reality, Coupang merely presents itself as an American company—this is not an accident, but a deliberate business strategy and structural choice.

To the Korean government, Coupang says, “We are an American company.”
To the U.S. government, it says, “We operate in Korea.”

In doing so, Coupang positions itself in a gray zone between Korea and the United States. One must ask: is the company even properly reporting to U.S. authorities the profits it earns in Korea?

at least 4 out of 5 worker deaths at Coupang in 2020, there were indications of the company's attempts to reduce or evade responsibility.

If you believe the recent personal data breach “only affected Korean people and has nothing to do with the United States,” that is a mistake. On the contrary, this incident raises the risk that data connected to the United States may also have flowed through Coupang to third countries, including China. The employee identified as responsible for the breach is reportedly a Chinese national. U.S. investors should ask themselves: does that not raise serious concerns?

At its core, this structure resembles a strategy in which business operations are conducted in Korea while corporate registration is maintained in the United States—potentially to minimize regulatory and tax exposure.

Invest wisely.
Korean consumers are already reducing their reliance on Coupang, and an increasing number are canceling memberships and turning to alternative platforms.