The Fair Trade Commission says most-favoured-nation terms imposed on restaurants by the two platforms, which together hold more than 90 percent of food delivery, restricted competition "in a manner similar to collusion". Both companies will review the written decision before deciding on legal action.
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission said on Monday it will fine Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baemin, 331.1 billion won (US$243 million) and Coupang, which runs Coupang Eats, US$216.4 million (300.8 billion won) for abusing market dominance to restrict competition. The Korea Herald reports that the combined 631.9 billion won (US$467 million) is the largest penalty ever imposed on food delivery operators in Korea, and comes with corrective orders.
According to the regulator, both platforms imposed most-favoured-nation requirements that stopped restaurants from offering lower prices or better minimum-order terms on rival apps. Coupang enforced the terms from July 2023 to January 2026 by stripping non-compliant restaurants of "Wow restaurant" status; Baemin did the same from May 2024 to October 2025 through its Baemin Club programme. Restaurants excluded from Coupang's programme saw average daily sales fall from US$160 (220,000 won) to US$65 (90,000 won), and those removed from Baemin's from US$79 (110,000 won) to US$22 (30,000 won), the FTC found. Baemin and Coupang Eats held 58.45 and 34.44 percent of the market by order value in 2025. With the two accounting for more than 90 percent, the FTC said their simultaneous MFN demands and aligned terms restricted competition "in a manner similar to collusion".
The FTC also sanctioned Baemin for steering restaurants from its Market Place service, under which restaurants arrange deliveries, to its Own Delivery service, which the regulator estimates earned Baemin 28 percent of transaction value in 2024 against 7.8 percent. The app showed restaurant-arranged deliveries as taking 13 minutes longer when they were on average 1.4 minutes faster. Coupang was separately ordered to revise, within 60 days, contract terms that calculated commissions on prices before discounts.
Coupang said the fine was disproportionate, more than 600 times the penalty imposed on Yogiyo in 2013 for similar conduct, and that the FTC had included sales from unrelated restaurants in the calculation; it said no Wow Restaurant agreements were terminated in the period. Woowa Brothers said it regretted that its arguments were not sufficiently accepted. Both companies said they would review the final written decision before deciding whether to take legal action. The FTC also ordered a re-examination of a separate case over Coupang's alleged tying of delivery and streaming services to its Wow membership.
