In Seoul, Korea, e‑commerce giant Coupang Inc. said on Wednesday it swung to a net loss of 715.1 billion won in the third quarter, a reversal of the 131.6 billion‑won profit it earned a year earlier.
The company attributed the sharp swing to losses incurred from a warehouse fire that gutted a Fulfillment Center in Incheon on July 21, and ongoing fallout from a data breach that affected more than 37 million customers in November 2025. Excluding fire‑related costs, Coupang’s net loss narrowed to 458.2 billion won. The loss comes after three straight quarterly losses and follows an operating loss of 642.3 billion won, down from a 224.5 billion‑won operating profit recorded in the same period last year.
Warehouse Fire Impact
The blaze at the Incheon facility—about 30 kilometers west of Seoul—burned for more than 100 hours, the second‑longest-lasting warehouse fire in South Korea, after a 2021 fire that lasted roughly 130 hours. The fire forced widespread shutdowns of the facility’s operations and incurred repair, insurance, and transition costs that the company said weighed heavily on its quarterly earnings. In the same quarter, sales climbed 11% year over year to 14.22 trillion won, with the core Product Commerce segment up 8% to 11.95 trillion won and the Developing Offerings segment up 27% to 2.27 trillion won. The number of active customers in Product Commerce rose 2% to 25.2 million. Coupang also announced a $210 million share repurchase in the third quarter, following the board’s approval of a $1 billion buyback program earlier in the year.
