It is reported that Coupang recently received approval for preliminary examination for listing on the NASDAQ./Photo = News 1
It is reported that Coupang has recently received approval for preliminary examination for listing on the NASDAQ.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 11th, Coupang passed a preliminary examination for an IPO (Nasdaq) through the listing supervisor, Goldman Sachs. Accordingly, there is a prospect that Coupang will be listed on the NASDAQ in March.
Earlier on the 7th, Bloomberg News cited a remark from a source, reporting that at least six of Japan’s Softbank investment companies are preparing for IPO this year, pointing to Coupang as one of them.
Bloomberg predicted that Coupang’s IPO could take place in the second quarter of this year, and analyzed that the corporate value could be valued at more than $30 billion (about 32.67 trillion won).
Since Coupang started as social commerce in 2010, it has expanded its influence by introducing direct purchase and its own delivery service,’Rocket Delivery’. The sales amounted to KRW 1,9159 trillion in 2016, KRW 2,6846 trillion in 2017, KRW 4,3545 trillion in 2018, and KRW 7,153 trillion in 2019, showing an annual increase of 40-60%.
However, despite the increase in sales, Coupang recorded hundreds of billions of dollars in losses every year. In 2018, it incurred an operating loss of over 1 trillion won and recorded a deficit of 700 billion won in 2019.
Among them, the securities industry analyzed that Coupang could turn into a surplus within a few years. In a report released in November last year, Samsung Securities analyzed that Coupang is expected to record 11 trillion won in sales and 215 billion won in operating loss in 2020, and that there is a possibility of a turnaround in the new year.
Meanwhile, if Coupang is listed on Nasdaq, it is expected that domestic e-commerce companies’ IPOs will also accelerate. Examples of companies planning an IPO include 11st Street, WeMef, Coupang, and SSG.com. They are considering listing for financial investor (FI) exit (fund recovery) plans and investment funds to sustain growth.
Reporter Mikyung Lee, Hankyung.com [email protected]
Ⓒ Hankyung.com prohibits unauthorized reproduction and redistribution