Kim Beom-Suk (right) with Masayoshi Son (孫正義): Two years ago Chairman Kim Beom-Suk (known as Bom Kim in Western world) of Coupang secured an investment of some 2 billion US dollars from the world-class business tycoon Masayoshi Son (孫正義), chairman of Softbank. Earlier in 2015 Son invested 1 billion US dollars into Coupang.

One of the largest e-commerce companies in the world, Coupang launched the biggest IPO of the year on the NYSE this spring and dominates South Korea's e-commerce market, with eyes on broader Asia expansion. The session will focus on the future of e-commerce and the importance of innovation in a fiercely competitive global environment.

This event was part of the Chamber’s International Security, Trade & Economic Platform (InSTEP) series, which brought together leaders from government, business and media for in-depth conversations on global issues.

WHO:
Bom Kim, Founder, CEO and Chairman, Coupang

Myron Brilliant, US Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President & Head of International Affairs

WHAT: InSTEP Series Discussion with Bom Kim

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. ET

WHERE: This was a virtual conference streamed via USChamber.com.  

Who Is Kim Beom-Seok?

Kim Beom-Seok (김범석) was born on Oct. 7, 1978. Korean-American businessman and internet entrepreneur was known professionally in the West as Bom Kim. He is famous for establishing Korea's largest e-commerce company Coupang. He serves as its chief executive officer and controlling shareholder.

In 2018, SoftBank Vision Fund invested $2 billion on Coupang, valuating the company at $9 billion, and making Kim South Korea’s newest and second-youngest billionaire at the age of 40. As of June 2021, Kim's net worth is $6.79 billion.

He was born in Seoul but left Korea at the age of 7. At age 13, he went to boarding school in Massachusetts at Deerfield Academy, where he lettered in varsity wrestling and track and later attended Harvard University. He later attended Harvard Business School but dropped out after only six months.

After interning at The New Republic and starting a student magazine called Current, Kim briefly worked at Boston Consulting Group before raising $4 million to start a magazine called 02138, which folded in 2009. He started Coupang the next year.

Kim founded Coupang in 2010 and since then has gone on to raise more than $3.8 billion in venture capital from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Softbank, BlackRock, and others.

It began as a Groupon-like website and now operates as an online retailer and operates a 24-hour logistics service called Rocket Delivery. It was reported in 2018 that Coupang would gross 2.7 trillion won in annual sales and lost 1.7 trillion won between 2015 and 2017 and maintains over 3.5 million daily active users as of 2019.