Kim Beomseok (Korean: 김범석; born October 7, 1978), known professionally in the West as Bom Kim, is an American businessman of South Korean origin, who is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in South Korea.[2][3] In 2018, when SoftBank Vision Fund invested US$2 billion in Coupang, valuing the company at $9 billion, Kim became the second-youngest billionaire in South Korea at the age of 40. As of November 2024, Kim has an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion.[4]
Early life
Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea on October 7, 1978. At his age of 7, he and his family moved to the United States.[5] He went to Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts, where he was on the varsity wrestling and track teams.[6] He graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree,[7] and attended Harvard Business School, dropping out in his second semester.[4]
Kim interned at The New Republic, started a student magazine, Current, and worked briefly at Boston Consulting Group prior to founding the magazine 02138, named for Harvard's ZIP Code. He raised $4 million to fund 02138 and started Coupang after it folded.[7][8]
It began as a Groupon-like website and now operates as an online retailer with a 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.[11]
The company employs over 40,000 people with offices in Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Los Angeles, Seattle and Silicon Valley.[12]
Personal life
Kim is married, with one child, and lives in Seoul, South Korea.[4]
References
^김범석. www.businesspost.co.kr. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
