Coupang posts first profit in 8 years after adopting rapid delivery

South Korea's Coupang CEO Kim Bom-seok has kept his promise, with his online shopping giant posting its first surplus in eight years since introducing its fast Rocket Delivery service.

The company on Thursday said its third-quarter operating profit reached $77.4 million, Coupang's first turn to the black since adopting the service in 2014.

Sales rose 27% to $5.1 billion year on year, a record-high quarterly figure based on the amount in domestic currency of 6.8 trillion won, and net profit hit $90.6 million.

CEO Kim said, "This achievement is thanks to billions of dollars in investment over the past seven years in an unrivaled logistical network that combines the 'last mile' of technology and fulfillment," adding, "Investment will continue in process optimization and automation technologies like machine learning and robotics so that we can offer reasonably priced products."

Coupang Chief Financial Officer Gaurav Anand also announced that the company earned record net income of $91 million across all business units, citing recent efforts toward revenue growth stemming from attempts to optimize and innovate technology, infrastructure and supply chains.

Write to Jong-Kwan Park at pjk@hankyung.com