Coupang plans to list itself on the New York Stock Exchange. Korea's biggest online retailer on Feb. 12 said it applied to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission to go public on the NYSE.

Parent company Coupang LLC registered in the U.S. state of Delaware changed its name to Coupang Inc. ahead of the filing. The number of shares to be issued and the subscription price have yet to be decided.

The Wall Street Journal said Coupang is valued at US$50 billion.

Coupang seems to have chosen the NYSE because it has a lower entry barrier than the Korean bourse to raise capital.

Securities industry sources said Coupang, which saw stellar growth since opening in 2010, is still saddled with huge debts, making it difficult to get listed in Korea.

Kosdaq listing requires a company to be evaluated based on profits, sales and equity.

So far Coupang has secured $3 billion in investments from Japan's Softbank, but its cumulative losses stand at $4.12 billion following aggressive investments in logistics centers in the Seoul metropolitan region and hiring delivery workers.

Last year alone, it suffered a net loss of $475 million, down from $699 million despite record sales amid the COVID-19 epidemic. On top of that, Masayoshi Son, the head of Softbank, said last year that he hopes to recoup his investment in Coupang.

The online retailer said in a filing to the SEC that it hopes to raise $1 billion from the initial public offering.

The SEC filing also revealed Coupang's earnings. Sales in 2020 totaled $11.97 billion, almost doubling from 2019 and up a whopping 275 times compared to 2013. As of the end of last year, it had 14.9 million "active" customers who had bought any product within the previous three months, with each of them spending an average of $256 per quarter.