Coupang to be designated as a’large corporate group without total number’ at the end of this month

Coupang is expected to be designated as a conglomerate group with no total number at the end of this month.

According to the industry and the government on the 6th, the Fair Trade Commission decided to designate Coupang as a business group (large business group) subject to disclosure, but to designate the same person (the total number) as a corporation rather than the founder, Chairman Kim Bum-seok.

The same person is the actual controller of the enterprise and is responsible for all responsibilities related to the data designated by the large corporate group. Depending on who the FTC designates as the same person, the company subject to the sanctions for specially related persons and total number of days may change.

In order to curb the concentration of economic power of large corporations, the FTC designates a group with a total asset of 5 trillion won or more as a disclosure target business group and imposes a regulation on private interests in the total number of days, and a duty to disclose large-scale internal transactions.

The FTC estimates that Coupang’s assets exceed 5 trillion won, considering the increase in the price of the logistics center site.

The same person is determined based on whether or not they actually exercise control over the business group. The actual owner of Coupang is founder Chairman Kim, who owns a 10.2% stake in Coupang. When applying differential voting rights, it holds 76.7% of the voting rights.

However, the public opinion is that it is unlikely that Kim, a US national, will be designated the same person. This is because there has been no case of a foreigner designated by the FTC Therefore, it is expected that the corporation will be designated as the same person like POSCO and KT.



The Fair Trade Commission said, “There has not been a decision as to whether or not Coupang is the same person as the disclosure target business group.”