South Korean eCommerce giant Coupang filed its eagerly-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday (Feb. 12).
The Seoul-headquartered startup is backed by SoftBank Group Corp., which owns a 37 percent stake in the company. Coupang’s U.S. registered parent company, Coupang LLC, owns 100 percent of Coupang’s shares. The digital shopping platform has been talking about pursuing a NASDAQ listing since its 2010 launch, according to a Korean Times report.
After double-digit growth for the past five years, the company has a valuation of roughly $30 billion. Total revenue escalated to $11.97 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, up from $6.27 billion in 2019. The company’s annual losses topped $900 million in 2018 and $700 billion in 2019. Net loss narrowed to $474.9 million in the period ended Dec. 31.
The filing could happen as early as next month at a valuation that could top $50 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. At that valuation, SoftBank’s stake would be worth roughly $19 billion, seven times what the fund paid for it, the news outlet said.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund has benefited from the escalating markets, with its 12 listed portfolio companies making $25.5 billion in realized and paper gains as of Feb. 5, SoftBank said Monday (Feb. 8), per the WSJ. Gains include Uber’s $5.2 billion, which is among the fund’s largest investments.
PYMNTS October report, The Emerging Post-COVID-19 Consumer: Mapping The Evolution Of Consumers’ Shifting Payments Preferences, indicated that the shift to online shopping is likely to be a permanent lifestyle change. While many people surveyed said they initially shopped online for everything because of the pandemic, many plan to continue because their retailers’ digital capabilities work better than they did before.
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