Bom Kim: Coupang founder's silence speaks volumes amid raucous backlash over scandals

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Bom Kim: Coupang founder's silence speaks volumes amid raucous backlash over scandals

Published: 06 Jan. 2026, 20:23 Updated: 13 Jan. 2026, 00:21

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Coupang Founder and CEO Bom Kim poses in front of the New York Stock Exchange facade before his company's initial public offering on March 11, 2021. [NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE]

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Bom Kim, the billionaire founder of Coupang, became the paragon of startup success as he scaled up the e-commerce platform in Korea to emulate the rise of Jeff Bezos' Amazon, marking one of the country's first cases of a small firm leveraging global venture capital to expand out of the country.

But Coupang's perceived negligence over data protection and lack of accountability are now threatening to undo much of what he built, recasting a once-touted startup legend as a target of public anger from both the Korean public and lawmakers.

What began as a privacy failure with the recent data breach of 33.7 million users is now quickly morphing into a full-blown ethical and reputational crisis after the Coupang chief refused to directly address the failure at the National Assembly.

Even before the data breach, public sentiment toward the company began to sour over lapses in risk management despite solid growth in its finances.

Bom Kim marks the first anniversary of "Rocket Delivery" in 2015 [COUPANG]

Flashpoint rooted in U.S. citizenship

Born in Seoul in 1978, Kim moved to the United States at a young age, following his father, who was sent there for work. Kim, currently residing in the United States, received his U.S. citizenship and naturally had his Korean passport revoked, but has been visiting Korea here and there.

Kim graduated from Harvard University before dropping out of Harvard Business School, but his entrepreneurship was already established during his undergraduate days. He founded Current Magazine, targeting elite graduates, which was sold to Newsweek, and 02138 — referring to Harvard’s postcode — an alumni magazine.

That entrepreneurial spirit that has sent Kim's net worth soaring to around $3.9 billion, according to Forbes, has now set him on a collision course with Korea's parliament. His ties to Korea — and lack of citizenship — have drawn criticism that commonly emerges when a foreign nationality or residential status is perceived to be used to evade responsibility in Korea, where leaders often take responsibility publicly in times of crisis, such as Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who attended parliamentary hearings and was jailed in relation to a scandal surrounding former President Park Geun-hye.

Kim, so far, is not adhering to that custom.

“As I currently reside and work abroad and have official business appointments as the CEO of a global company operating in over 170 countries, I regret to inform you that I am unable to attend the hearing in person," read a statement submitted to the National Assembly by Kim on Dec. 14 of last year in response to a request that he appear for questioning over the recent data leak.

Some critics have even gone as far as referring to the CEO with a derogatory term that literally translates to a "black-haired foreigner," typically used against ethnic Koreans holding foreign citizenship for evading social or legal responsibilities in Korea while profiting from business ties.

Coupang founder and CEO Bom Kim [COUPANG]

Long-simmering concerns emerge into public view

Kim's latest approach to the recent data leak scandal is reminiscent of an incident in 2015 when he denied the National Assembly appearance in connection with unfair business practices.

The e-commerce platform's founder cited “back injuries caused after playing basketball” as the reason and went on to step down as the CEO of Coupang in Korea in December 2020, following the suspected death of a worker surnamed Jang by overwork at a logistics facility.

The sudden resignation triggered the suspicion that the move was an attempt to avoid being held accountable under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act in the wake of the death.

Coupang and its logistics subsidiary, Coupang Fulfillment Services, have experienced the deaths of several logistics workers, which many attribute to the company’s "Rocket Delivery" service that focuses on delivery speed, resulting in increased night deliveries and performance requirements — and the company’s lack of commitment to improve or make the working conditions better for the workers.

Kim was also alleged to have been directly involved in covering up the death of its workers. Following the 2020 death, Kim reportedly ordered the company’s chief privacy officer to make it appear as though Jang didn’t work hard in order to claim that overwork was not the cause of the death, according to SBS News’ report in December.

“Make sure no notes about him working hard are retained,” read a message from Kim, the SBS report claimed.

The related case is still underway.

Coupang also tends to take a confrontational stance when penalties are implemented.

When the company was fined 140 billion won ($96 million) for manipulating its search algorithm in 2024, it immediately appealed the case to the Seoul Eastern District Court and threatened to stop the popular Rocket Delivery. At the time, Korea’s antitrust watchdog concluded that Coupang rigged its search algorithm to artificially prefer its own private label brands while pushing down third-party vendors’ products, even when users were searching for the third-party vendors' products. The company also hired over 2,000 employees to write reviews of its private label brand products, which averaged 4.8 out of five stars.

“Coupang will not be able to sustain services like Rocket Delivery, and this would inevitably result in an immense inconvenience and damage to the customers,” Coupang claimed in a statement in June 2024.

Outsize influence?

As the company's founder, Kim is wielding an undisputed influence across Coupang. Following the initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in New York in 2021, Kim held only approximately 10 percent of the company’s shares, but in the form of Class B stocks. With the Class B dual-class stocks, which had 29 times the voting rights of a regular Class A stock, Kim was able to claim 76.7 percent of the total voting power in the company. And even to date, after Kim sold 15 million shares worth $344.6 million, he still possesses over 70 percent of the total voting power himself.

He has also installed close aides in key positions. Among them are Harold Rogers, interim CEO of Coupang's Korea operation, and Gaurav Anand, the Chief Financial Officer who formerly worked at Amazon.

“As two of Bom Kim’s closest aides, they were said to wield such overwhelming influence — especially around the time of the IPO — that people often referred to them as ‘Harold on the left, Gaurav on the right," a source close to Kim was quoted as saying in the JoongAng Ilbo’s series on Coupang.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, PARK EUN-JEE [[email protected]]