Bum-Seok Kim, Chairman of CoupangCoupang, who entered the New York Stock Exchange on the 11th, broke the $50 mark as the stock price fell 20% in a week. The stock price is drawing a downward curve day after day as it surged more than 40% on the first day of listing. It is interpreted that market vigilance has risen as Coupang’s chairman of the board of directors Kim Bum-seok sold some stocks on the previous day, and the removal of the protection deposit for executives and employees came a day ahead. In particular, it is advised that Coupang needs attention from investors as it has recently emerged as a stock intensively bought by Seohak ant (a domestic investor trading overseas stocks).
On the 16th (local time) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Coupang (CPNG Class A) stock closed at $47.13, down 6.58% ($3.32) from the battlefield. This is lower than the closing price of $49.25 on the first day of listing. The stock price is showing an unstable trend, falling more than 30% from the peak ($69.00).
Coupang’s share price weakness appears to be due to concerns about the bombing of shares held by executives and employees, including Chairman Kim Beom-seok, and Coupang Chairman Kim Beom-seok, in conjunction with the adjustment period that occurred immediately after listing. According to the listing report (S-1) filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 34 million of the stock options granted to all employees (66.7 million shares as of the end of last year) will be released on the 18th. This is 4.8% of the total number of shares (69.81 million shares). Protection Jesus is a system in which shareholders or executives and employees who have a large amount of shares immediately after listing are prohibited from selling stock for a certain period of time. Accordingly, Coupang’s major shareholders and others cannot sell shares for 180 days. However, if the stock price is higher than the public offering price ($35), the general employee is subject to an exception that allows them to sell stock after 6 days of listing.
Earlier, Chairman Kim, the founder of Coupang, also sold 1.2 million shares of Class A (old stock) that he owned. The selling price is $35 per share (public offering price), totaling $42 million (about 47.5 billion won). It is an ironic situation that encouraged a decline in stock prices as the protection of the executives and employees was released at a price that far exceeded the public offering price.
Mirae Asset Daewoo Researcher Kim Myung-ju explained, “The growth potential and market share in the distribution market are likely to increase, but if the share price-to-sales ratio (PSR) increases by more than 3 times, there is a burden of short-term valuation (the level of stock price compared to earnings). In fact, the current corporate value of Coupang is about $89 billion, which is 5.4 times the PSR. This is higher than Amazon (3.4x) or eBay (3.2x). After all, the high PSR means that the stock value is highly valued.
On the other hand, Seohak ants were counted to have net purchase worth $33.91 million (approximately 38.3 billion won) on the 11th, the first day Coupang was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
[김규리 매경닷컴 기자 [email protected]]
[ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]