What Coupang (CPNG)'s Record User Data Breach Means For Shareholders

• Coupang recently disclosed that a data breach beginning in June exposed personal details for about 33.7 million users, including names, contact information, addresses, and order histories, prompting investigations by South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission and law enforcement.
• The incident, reportedly the country’s largest data leak in over a decade, raises significant questions about Coupang’s data governance, potential regulatory penalties, and long-term customer trust.
• We’ll now examine how this record-breaking data breach and potential regulatory penalties could influence Coupang’s previously optimistic investment narrative.

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Coupang Investment Narrative Recap

Coupang’s long term appeal rests on turning its scale in Korean e commerce and newer markets into durable, higher margin earnings. The record data breach directly challenges that story in the near term by testing customer loyalty, inviting heavier regulation in its core market and potentially raising compliance and technology costs that could slow margin progress.

The most recent Q3 2025 results, with revenue of US$9,267 million and net income of US$95 million, show that Coupang entered this crisis from a position of improving profitability. How regulators ultimately respond, and whether any fines or required security upgrades materially change Coupang’s cost base, will be central to how investors now think about its earnings trajectory and valuation.

Yet investors also need to consider how heavier data protection rules in Korea could interact with Coupang’s already rising technology and infrastructure spending...

Read the full narrative on Coupang (it's free!)

Coupang's narrative projects $46.0 billion revenue and $2.0 billion earnings by 2028. This requires 12.6% yearly revenue growth and about a $1.6 billion earnings increase from $365.0 million today.

Uncover how Coupang's forecasts yield a $35.99 fair value, a 35% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Seven members of the Simply Wall St Community currently see Coupang’s fair value between US$27.25 and US$40 per share, highlighting a wide spread of expectations. You can compare those views with the risk that higher technology and compliance spending after the data breach may weigh on operating margins and explore how different scenarios could play out for Coupang’s profitability.

Explore 7 other fair value estimates on Coupang - why the stock might be worth as much as 51% more than the current price!

Build Your Own Coupang Narrative

Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your Coupang research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free Coupang research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Coupang's overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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