Coupang Posts 642.3 Billion Won Quarterly Operating Loss as Fire and Breach Fallout Weigh

Rising sales fail to prevent another large loss

Coupang recorded an operating loss of 642.3 billion won, about $450 million, in the third quarter of 2026 as a warehouse fire added to the continuing financial strain from a major customer data breach. The deficit was its second largest quarterly operating loss since its 2021 listing in the United States, exceeded only by the previous quarter.

The company generated revenue of $9.962 billion, approximately 14.22 trillion won, during July through September. Revenue increased 7% in reported US dollars and 11% on a constant currency basis, which removes the effect of exchange rate changes. Sales expressed in won also rose about 11%, from 12.85 trillion won a year earlier.

Coupang attributed $248 million, approximately 354 billion won, in expenses to the July fire at its fulfillment center in Incheon, west of Seoul. Those expenses accounted for about 55% of the quarterly operating loss. Excluding the fire, the company still recorded an operating loss of $202 million, approximately 288.3 billion won.

The results, released in early November, show two pressures arriving together: a large charge from damaged inventory and facilities, and weaker profitability in the shopping business. Customers are joining and sales are growing, yet spending on operations, marketing and recovery continues to weigh on earnings.

Founder and Chief Executive Bom Kim said the company remained on course for a recovery around the middle of 2027. The next quarter will provide an earlier test, with management forecasting faster revenue growth and an improvement in its adjusted earnings margin.

Three quarters of losses exceed the 2021 annual deficit

Coupang has now recorded operating losses for three consecutive quarters. The third quarter followed a 354.5 billion won deficit in the first quarter and an 835 billion won deficit in the second.

The second quarter included a 624.7 billion won fine imposed by South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission. The third quarter brought the warehouse fire charge, while the commercial effects of the data breach continued across the year.

• November 2025: Coupang disclosed a data breach that affected more than 37 million customers.
• First quarter of 2026: The company recorded an operating loss of 354.5 billion won.
• Second quarter of 2026: Its operating loss reached 835 billion won, including the privacy fine.
• July 18, 2026: A fire broke out at the Incheon fulfillment center and took four days to extinguish.
• Third quarter of 2026: Coupang recorded an operating loss of 642.3 billion won.

The combined operating loss for the first nine months reached 1.8318 trillion won. That was about 123 billion won, or 7%, more than the company's full year operating loss of 1.7088 trillion won in 2021.

The latest result also reversed an operating profit of 224.5 billion won in the third quarter of 2025. Operating profit measures revenue left after the expenses of running the business, before items such as income taxes and financing costs.

What the Incheon fire cost

The July 18 fire began on the sixth floor of a logistics building with eight floors above ground, one basement level and approximately 299,000 square meters of floor space. Concerns about possible collapse led to evacuation orders for nearby residents during the emergency.

The blaze was described as South Korea's second longest lasting warehouse fire. The longer incident occurred at Coupang's distribution center in Icheon in 2021, when flames burned for about 130 hours. Incheon and Icheon are different cities: Incheon lies west of Seoul, while Icheon is southeast of the capital.

Coupang's fire expenses covered inventory, facilities and obligations involving sellers' goods held at the site. A fulfillment center stores products and prepares orders for dispatch, placing both merchandise and the equipment needed to move it at risk when a serious fire occurs.

The fire charge explains more than half of the third quarter operating deficit. The remaining $202 million loss shows the scale of the recovery still needed across the rest of the business.

Costs grew faster than revenue

Coupang's cost of sales reached $7.401 billion, absorbing 74.3% of revenue compared with 70.6% a year earlier. That increase of 3.7 percentage points left less money from each dollar of sales to cover other expenses.

Gross profit, the amount remaining after subtracting the cost of sales from revenue, fell 6% to $2.561 billion. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 17.7% to $3.011 billion, faster than the 7% increase in reported dollar revenue.

Total operating expenses reached $10.412 billion against revenue of $9.962 billion. The $450 million gap between those figures was the operating loss.

The company's adjusted EBITDA fell 72% to $116 million from $413 million a year earlier. EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The adjusted measure also removes certain items under the company's calculation, giving a different view of performance from operating profit.

Coupang's net loss, which includes taxes and other items beyond operating expenses, reached 715.1 billion won, or $501 million, compared with a net profit of 131.6 billion won a year earlier. Excluding fire costs, the net loss was 458.2 billion won, or $321 million.

The core shopping business faces a spending gap

Product Commerce, Coupang's main shopping division, generated $8.374 billion in revenue. The segment includes Rocket Delivery, Rocket Fresh, Rocket Growth and Marketplace. Revenue grew 5% in reported dollars and 8% on a constant currency basis, reaching approximately 11.95 trillion won.

The division supplied about 84% of total company revenue, calculated from its $8.374 billion in sales against the group total of $9.962 billion. Its performance therefore carries particular weight in Coupang's recovery.

Active Product Commerce customers rose 2% to 25.2 million, from 24.7 million a year earlier. The division's EBITDA nevertheless fell 45% to approximately 549.5 billion won.

Kim said some customers who left after the data incident had yet to return. New members had filled the gap in membership numbers, but newer shoppers needed time to build their spending. For Coupang, restoring the number of members and restoring the amount they buy are separate stages of recovery.

Record membership follows the breach

Coupang disclosed the data breach in November 2025, and the incident affected more than 37 million customers. The company has faced public backlash alongside the financial penalty and additional marketing spending intended to bring shoppers back.

A joint government and private sector investigation was already under way by December 2025, following the Coupang data breach. Its effects have since spread from the handling of customer information to shopping activity and operating costs.

Kim told the earnings call that paid membership in South Korea had reached a record. He described the position of the company's WOW subscription program:

Our WOW membership in Korea is at the highest level in our history,

Kim also said customers who returned had regained their previous spending levels and continued to increase purchases. Members who stayed throughout the disruption were spending at record levels.

Coupang is therefore dealing with uneven customer recovery. Retained shoppers and returning members are buying more, while the remaining absent customers and the spending patterns of newer members continue to affect sales and the use of its delivery network.

Management expects costs to ease as orders recover

Kim identified three pressures on Product Commerce margins: supply chain disruption, fixed costs built around demand before the breach, and marketing investment aimed at winning back customers.

Fixed costs include expenses that continue even when order numbers fall. A warehouse still requires facilities and equipment when fewer packages move through it. As orders recover, those costs can be spread across more purchases, reducing the cost attached to each order.

Kim said higher volumes should improve the use of logistics facilities and restore savings that come from handling more goods. He also said marketing costs had already begun to decline.

The chief executive set out the recovery timetable during the earnings call:

Product Commerce is tracking toward the mid-next year recovery we laid out last quarter. We expect the reported growth and margins to approximate historical levels as we lap the affected periods (driven by the data incident) next year,

His reference to moving past the affected periods means future results will be compared with quarters already weakened by the breach. Management also expects the division's margins to approach levels seen before the incident during 2027. No specific recovery date was given beyond the target around the middle of the year.

Taiwan grows while expansion requires more investment

Coupang's Developing Offerings segment, which includes Taiwan operations, Coupang Eats, Farfetch and Rocket Now in Japan, generated approximately $1.6 billion in revenue, or 2.27 trillion won. Revenue increased 27% on a constant currency basis.

Taiwan was a particular focus of management's expansion plans. WOW membership there more than doubled from a year earlier, and its growth accelerated from the second quarter.

Dawn Delivery, introduced in Taiwan during the second quarter, was available to more than half the island's population by the third quarter. The service extends Coupang's delivery model into a market where it is still building its network and customer base.

Faster construction of that network also means higher spending. Chief Financial Officer Gaurav Anand widened the forecast for the full year loss in Developing Offerings by up to $100 million, citing faster infrastructure investment in Taiwan.

Coupang is pursuing two financial goals at once: restoring profitability in its much larger shopping business and funding expansion in newer services and markets. The 27% growth in Developing Offerings was faster than Product Commerce growth, but the increased loss forecast shows the immediate cost of that expansion.

What the fourth quarter will test

Anand forecast fourth quarter revenue growth of 13% to 14% on a constant currency basis. That would be faster than the 11% recorded in the third quarter using the same measure.

He also forecast an increase of 50 to 150 basis points in the adjusted EBITDA margin. A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point, so that range means an improvement of 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points. A margin measures earnings as a share of revenue.

Coupang continued spending on services and operations during the quarter. It introduced a service allowing members to try products before buying, while using artificial intelligence cameras and automated bagging equipment in warehouses. Fresh grocery volumes grew more than twice as fast as the broader Product Commerce segment.

The company also repurchased $210 million of its shares under a $1 billion program approved earlier in the year. The quarterly purchases equaled 21% of the program's authorized value.

The next results will show whether stronger sales, lower marketing spending and greater use of logistics facilities begin to narrow the losses. Management's forecast calls for progress in the fourth quarter, followed by a broader recovery in Product Commerce around the middle of 2027.

Key Points

• Coupang recorded a third quarter operating loss of 642.3 billion won, its third consecutive quarterly deficit.
• Revenue reached $9.962 billion, rising 7% in reported dollars and 11% on a constant currency basis.
• The Incheon warehouse fire generated about 354 billion won in expenses, roughly 55% of the operating loss.
• Excluding the fire, the operating loss was $202 million, approximately 288.3 billion won.
• Operating losses for the first nine months totaled 1.8318 trillion won, exceeding the full year loss recorded in 2021.
• Product Commerce active customers reached 25.2 million, while Korean WOW membership reached a record.
• Management expects a recovery around the middle of 2027 and forecasts fourth quarter revenue growth of 13% to 14% on a constant currency basis.