With market value evaporating by tens of billions of dollars, South Korea's Coupang's market value has fallen to its lowest level since its listing

On the 20th local time in New York , Coupang's stock price closed at US$42.62 , a plunge of 6.78% from the previous trading day .

It is reported that this is the lowest price of Coupang since its listing on the 11th of last month, a decrease of 32.9% from the initial price at the time of listing (US$63.5) and a difference of about US$7 from the public offering price of US$35 !

Due to the sharp drop in stock prices, Coupang's market value also fell to 73.099 billion US dollars (about 82 trillion won). Based on the market value of 84 billion US dollars (about 95 trillion won) at the close of the market on the 11th of last month , this means that Coupang 's market value evaporated by about 13 trillion won (about 11.64 billion US dollars) in one month .

However, in terms of the domestic securities market, it is still the third largest after Samsung Electronics ( 493 trillion won) and SK Hynix (97 trillion won) .

In fact, the plunge in Coupang's stock price is inseparable from the overall sluggish trend of the stock market. The three major indexes of the New York Stock Exchange fell for two consecutive days. On that day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.75%, the S&P 500 fell 0.68%, and the Nasdaq index, which is dominated by technology stocks, fell 0.92%.

But in addition to external factors, the important reason for the plunge in Coupang’s stock price is naturally inseparable from Coupang itself.

The market seems to be skeptical of Coupang's overwhelming competitiveness and the risks of its couriers being overworked . Investment bank JPMorgan Chase recently pointed out in a report : "Social conditions and regulations related to the treatment of couriers are potential risks for Coupang ."

For this reason, earlier this month, four global investment banks including Mizuho Securities, Credit Suisse ( CS), JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank all gave a " neutral " investment opinion on Coupang .

However, in sharp contrast to Coupang's plunge, Coupang's major shareholder, Japan's SoftBank Group, had a net profit of 4 trillion yen (about 41 trillion won) in fiscal 2020 (April 2020 to March 2021), the highest level in Japanese corporate history.

SoftBank lost 1 trillion yen just a year ago , but has generated considerable valuation profits as many of its invested companies have gone public. The core of this is Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce giant in which it holds a 37% stake. According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, SoftBank will announce its results on May 12.

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