Who is Coupang, the Korean e-commerce titan that just acquired Farfetch?

Coupang's founder, Bom Kim, born in Seoul in 1978 and later moved to the United States with his family, quickly captured the disruptive codes of e-commerce and and introduced them to South Korea. After studying at Harvard University, he briefly worked at the Boston Consulting Group before founding the Vintage Media Company, which he sold in 2009. In 2010, he established Coupang. His approach involves adopting innovation, reducing prices, and investing in fast deliveries. He introduced Rocket Delivery (ensuring fast delivery, including dawn and same-day options) and Rocket Fresh (an online grocery service offering fast delivery of fresh products, fruits, vegetables, meats, and other items in reusable eco-friendly bags). Bom Kim's approach revolutionized the e-commerce market in South Korea, with over 99.3% of orders delivered within 24 hours. In 2019, the company launched Coupang Eats, competing with giants like Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

In November 2018, Coupang received a significant $2 billion investment from SoftBank, valuing the company at $9 billion. Other major investors included BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. In 2020, Coupang's revenue made a significant leap, reaching $11.045 billion, then $18.406 billion in 2021. Under Bom Kim's leadership, Coupang has firmly established itself as a key player in the global digital economy. In the third quarter of 2023, Coupang announced net revenues of $6.2 billion, up 21% year-on-year (+18% at constant exchange rates). (Source: Coupang Annual Report and Zonebourse)

Another notable milestone was Coupang's historic entry into the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021, the largest for an Asian company since Alibaba in 2014, raising $4.55 billion and achieving a valuation of approximately $60 billion. Despite these successes, the company faced challenges, including criticism of working conditions and the deaths of several employees in 2021. Since then, measures have been taken to improve practices, including the adoption of an automated sorting system in its logistics centers to reduce manual workload and the use of optimized delivery trucks to simplify parcel organization and access.

Simultaneously, the platform continues to innovate and expand, especially in video streaming and live shopping with Coupang Play (a streaming platform offering a wide range of content, including live sports events, recent movies, news, and original series).

The acquisition of Farfetch for $500 million now allows Coupang to enter the luxury e-commerce sector, giving it access to all the prestigious brands in the industry. However, upon the announcement of the Farfetch acquisition on December 18th, Coupang's shares fell by 2%.

Today, Bom Kim's net worth is estimated at $2.8 billion by Forbes.