Coupang tops FTC fine among Korean conglomerates over past 3 years: report
This file photo taken April 12, 2024, shows Coupang delivery trucks parked at a parking lot in Seoul. Yonhap
Coupang Inc., a leading e-commerce company in South Korea, has received the largest amount of fines from the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) among conglomerates over the past three years, a parliamentary report showed Sunday.
According to the report compiled by the FTC and submitted to Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party, Coupang was fined a total of 162.8 billion won ($114.3 million) from the first half of 2022 to the first half of this year.
Last year, the FTC imposed the fine on the company for manipulating search algorithms to boost the "Coupang ranking" of its private-label and directly purchased products.
Top carmaker Hyundai Motor Group followed with cumulative fines of 119.4 billion won, trailed by poultry-processing company Harim Group with 101.6 billion won and SK Group with 64.5 billion won.
The top 10 conglomerates were fined a combined 744.6 billion won during the three-year period.
Hyundai Department Store Group recorded the highest number of violations, 38 in total, mostly due to multiple collusion cases involving its furniture affiliate Hyundai Livart Furniture.
Hanssem Co. came next with 33 violations, followed by SK Group with 31 and Enex Co. with 28.
Altogether, the top 10 companies violated antitrust law 243 times over the cited period.