Coupang (CPNG): Buying Opportunity?
What people say vs. what people do.
I’ve gotten a bunch of messages over the past few weeks asking what I think about Coupang.
Short answer: I’ve been buying more.
Long answer: it’s complicated.
A data breach exposed personal information tied to 33.7 million accounts. That’s basically most of their customer base in a country of 52 million people. The head of Coupang’s South Korean operations resigned. Police raided their Seoul headquarters.
There’s even a social media movement called “Tal-pang” where people are vowing to delete the app and never come back. Oh, and CEO/founder Bom Kim skipped the initial parliamentary hearings, then finally issued his first public apology in late December.
The stock has gotten crushed. Down ~40% from its September highs, sitting in one of its worst drawdowns since coming public.
I keep telling myself to wait. Let the dust settle. See how the user numbers shake out over a few months. But every time I think about waiting for a better entry, it just keeps giving me one.
The way I see it, this is a moat being tested. And so far, it’s holding.
The breach itself is worth understanding because the headlines make it sound worse than the underlying facts. This wasn’t some sophisticated external hack.