Early Life
Bom Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, on October 7, 1978. When he was seven, his family moved to the United States. Kim attended Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts, where he participated in wrestling and track. He graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in government and later attended Harvard Business School, though he dropped out in his second semester.
Rise to Success
Kim's career began with internships at The New Republic and the founding of a student magazine called Current. He also worked briefly at the Boston Consulting Group before founding the magazine 02138, named after Harvard's ZIP code. Kim founded Coupang in 2010, which has since raised billions in venture capital from investors like Sequoia Capital and Softbank. Coupang initially began as a Groupon-like website but evolved into a major online retailer with its Rocket Delivery service. In 2018, SoftBank's Vision Fund invested $2 billion in Coupang, valuing the company at $9 billion.
Key Business Strategies
Coupang's key strategies include a focus on customer satisfaction and innovative delivery methods, particularly its Rocket Delivery service, providing same-day or next-day delivery for millions of items. This has led to high customer satisfaction and rapid growth in South Korea and expanding internationally. Coupang has invested heavily in building a logistics network. Kim has expanded Coupang's influence beyond e-commerce into sectors such as food delivery and online video streaming (OTT).
Philanthropy
Information on Kim's specific philanthropic endeavors is unavailable based on the search results.
