BriefZip

Coupang, the company behind South Korea's Rocket Delivery service, increased sales in the third quarter of 2026 and still lost money on its core operations. The New York-listed e-commerce company reported net revenue of $9.96 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, up 7% from a year earlier and up 11% on a constant currency basis. But it posted an operating loss of $450 million , compared with an operating profit of $162 million in the same quarter of 2025. The biggest single hit came from a July fire at a leased fulfillment center in Incheon, west of Seoul. Yet even after stripping out the fire, Coupang was still in the red. This post walks through what the company does, how much the business grew, how big the fire cost was, and why costs outran sales. What Coupang is Coupang is often described as the Amazon of South Korea. Its parent company, Coupang, Inc., is headquartered in the United States and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CPNG, but most o...

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves rose to $443.16 billion at the end of October, the Bank of Korea said on Nov. 4. That is $2.6 billion more than at the end of September and the highest level since May 2022, a span of four years and five months. It also beat this year's previous high, set in August at $442.28 billion. What makes the increase notable is that October was a month when the US dollar got stronger, which normally pulls reserve totals down. This post explains what the reserves are, why they rose anyway, and what they are made of. What foreign exchange reserves are Foreign exchange reserves are the foreign-currency assets a central bank keeps on hand to stabilize the currency market and meet external payments. Think of them as a country's emergency savings in foreign money. If the Korean won suddenly weakens sharply, or if banks and companies struggle to get dollars, the authorities can sell some of these assets to supply dollars and calm the market. L...

The first office and technical staff union in the history of Hyosung Heavy Industries, a South Korean maker of power equipment, began a 72-hour warning strike on Nov. 4. The strike is scheduled to run through Nov. 6. The union wants a 10% increase in base pay, clear rules for paying bonuses and a smaller gap in benefits between job groups. The company says the union walked away from talks before even looking at its wage offer, and that it will respond according to the law and its principles. The company also says its main factory will keep running because production workers are not part of the strike. The dispute involves a company that makes equipment used to move electricity from power plants to cities, factories and data centers. Who is Hyosung Heavy Industries? Hyosung Heavy Industries is part of the Hyosung group, one of South Korea's family-controlled business groups. Its heavy industries division makes power equipment such as transformers and circuit breakers, and the c...

Wall Street split again on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, as Americans voted in the midterm elections. A rebound in chip stocks lifted the Nasdaq Composite 0.83% , while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.38% as Apple fell. September job openings came in above expectations, Apple's record quarter was overshadowed by a softer margin outlook, and Palantir reported that revenue nearly doubled from a year earlier. This briefing walks through the market close, the jobs data and the two company reports, with the numbers explained and what to watch next. Stocks: chips bounce back on Election Day The Nasdaq Composite closed at 25,372.01, up 207.65 points. The S&P 500 gained 27.52 points, or 0.36%, to 7,568.92. The Dow fell 197.26 points, or 0.38%, to 51,786.72. Chip stocks had sold off hard the previous session, and many of them recovered on Tuesday. Because the Nasdaq Composite is heavily weighted toward technology companies, it tends to move most when semiconductors and so...

South Korea is changing how shares in initial public offerings are handed out. Institutions that promise to hold IPO shares for at least six months will be able to receive part of an offering in advance , under a cornerstone investor system set to take effect on Nov. 13. The Financial Services Commission, the country's top financial regulator, said the Cabinet approved the enabling amendment to the enforcement decree of the Capital Markets Act on Nov. 3. The decree will be promulgated in November and is scheduled to apply from Nov. 13, the date the amended law takes effect. The idea is simple: give priority to investors who will stay, rather than to those who may sell on the first day of trading. Here is how the system works, what the limits are and why the regulator is introducing it. What a cornerstone investor is IPO shares are offered to public investors when a company lists, and may include newly issued shares or existing shares sold by shareholders. In Korea, institutiona...

South Korea's navy and its arms procurement agency launched the 3,600-ton diesel submarine Seo Hui on Nov. 3 at Hanwha Ocean's Okpo shipyard on Geoje Island. The boat carries 70 domestically made systems , 12 more than the previous submarine class, including a Korean-built lithium battery system. It is not finished yet: after sea trials, it is scheduled to be delivered to the navy in 2028. The launch matters for two reasons. First, the battery choice changes how long a diesel submarine can stay hidden underwater. Second, the higher share of locally made equipment is meant to speed up maintenance at home and make Korean submarines easier to sell abroad. Both points come from the joint statement issued by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), South Korea's weapons procurement agency, and the Republic of Korea Navy. What kind of submarine is Seo Hui Seo Hui, hull number SS-088, is the second boat of Batch-II of the KSS-III program, also called Jangbogo-III...