Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, just wondering what you think of Coupang Inc. I have done very well on your Amazon.com recommendation, and wonder whether Coupang offers the same prospects. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Coupang Inc., $37.54, symbol CPNG on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $64.4 billion; www.coupang.com), is South Korea’s largest e-commerce company. Often called the “Amazon of South Korea,” Coupang was founded by Bom Suk Kim. He completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard and went on to Harvard Business School before dropping out and returning to South Korea to start the delivery platform in 2010. The company launched its IPO and began trading on New York on March 10, 2021. The shares started trading at $35 each. Following the initial public offering, major Japanese investment firm SoftBank holds 33% of Coupang. SoftBank first invested in the e-commerce company in 2015. In the five years leading up to its IPO, SoftBank invested an additional $3 billion. Its total investment is now worth more than $27 billion. Coupang’s revenue jumped 90.8% in 2020, to $12.0 billion from $6.3 billion in 2019. In 2020, the company lost $567.6 million, an improvement over its $770.2 million…