Yes24
Yes24 is Korea's top-ranked online bookstore, also selling e-books and K-pop concert tickets.
On the record
Checkpoint: PIPC ruling on ransomware breach and Paju Smart Fulfillment Center opening
The call
Yes24 leads a shrinking category on brand loyalty and ticketing ties while its own infrastructure keeps failing and revenue keeps sliding.
Yes24 sells books and concert tickets online in South Korea and ranks first in its market, with close relationships to publishers and K-pop artists that are hard for rivals to copy. However, bigger companies like Coupang (which delivers almost everything) and Naver (which owns search and payments) could easily enter if they wanted to, but simply choose not to right now. Yes24's sales have dropped 6 to 10 percent per year for the past year, its profits are thin and unstable, and a ransomware attack plus service outages in 2025 revealed that the company runs old, unsupported computer systems, which suggests management problems beyond bad luck. The company survives mostly because larger rivals are ignoring it and because customers remain loyal, not because the business itself is truly hard to beat. The key question is whether sales will keep falling or finally stabilize, whether a new automated warehouse opening in mid-2026 improves operations, and whether the company can actually launch its promised AI tools to compete with what chat-based search can now do.
Why
01
AI pressure: General LLM tools (chat, search, book curation); Yes24's own 'Yes AI' plan unverified. Chatbots can summarize, recommend, and answer book questions, cutting reasons to browse Yes24 directly; Yes24's countering AI product hasn't shipped. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Coupang, Naver. Coupang and Naver could crush Yes24 on logistics or search anytime but haven't bothered entering books and ticketing hard yet. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. Publisher relationships, K-pop ticketing partnerships, and a 20 million-plus loyal user base built over two decades.
What would change this call
PIPC issues ruling with fines or remediation mandate on the June 2025 ransomware breach. Would confirm scale of governance failure and whether infrastructure risk is being fixed.
Yes24 quarterly revenue for next 2-3 quarters versus prior -7% to -10% YoY decline. Shows whether customer/revenue erosion is stabilizing or accelerating.
Any repeat outage during a major K-pop ticket presale in the next year. Would show infrastructure fixes failed and fans are shifting to Interpark or TicketLink.
Yes24 quarterly revenue for next 2-3 quarters versus prior -7% to -10% YoY decline. Shows whether customer/revenue erosion is stabilizing or accelerating.
Any repeat outage during a major K-pop ticket presale in the next year. Would show infrastructure fixes failed and fans are shifting to Interpark or TicketLink.
Key numbers
- FY2025 revenue down 6.66% YoY to ₩626.47B
- Q1 FY2026 revenue down 7.39% YoY
- Two outages within two months: ransomware plus August crash
Named risks
- Ransomware breach (June 2025) tied to end-of-support Windows Server 2012 infrastructure.
- Repeat service outages during high-stakes K-pop ticket presales erode customer trust.
- Multi-year revenue decline accelerating (FY2025 -6.66%, Q1 FY2026 -7.39%, TTM -9.82%).
- Ongoing PIPC investigation could result in fines or mandated remediation.
- Coupang and Naver could enter book/ticketing categories more aggressively.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Coupang | losing to | Coupang stationery/craft sales ~$897.8M vs Yes24's ~$23.6M in 2024 |
| Naver | losing to | Naver's search, content and webtoon ecosystem structurally threatens Yes24's digital content business |
| Aladin | contesting | Both firms suffered major breaches: Aladin 2023 (720K e-books leaked), Yes24 June 2025 ransomware |
| Kyobo Book Centre | contesting | Ranked closely to Yes24 in 2024 brand competitiveness index, competing head to head in books |
| Interpark Ticket, Melon Ticket, TicketLink | gaining on | Rival ticketing platforms positioned to capture K-pop fans after Yes24's June and August 2025 outages |
Questions people ask
- Is Yes24 profitable in 2026?
- No clear profit trend. Yes24 posted a net loss of KRW44.67B in FY2025 on revenue of KRW626.47B, down 6.66% year over year, after a KRW14.03B profit in FY2024. Q1 FY2026 revenue fell 7.39% YoY to KRW168.08B, as of March 31, 2026.
- Did Yes24 have a data breach?
- Yes. Yes24 suffered a ransomware attack from June 9 to 15, 2025 that knocked its book and K-pop ticketing platforms offline for 4-5 days. South Korea's PIPC launched a probe into the breach on June 11, 2025, and a second unrelated outage hit the site on August 11, 2025.
- Who owns Yes24?
- Yes24 Co., Ltd. is a KOSDAQ-listed subsidiary (ticker 053280) of Hansae Yes24 Holdings Co., Ltd. (KRX: 016450), which also owns apparel manufacturer Hansae. Co-CEOs are Kim Seok-hwan, son of group chairman Kim Dong-nyung, and Se-Ra Choi, as of April 2025.
- Is Yes24 losing ground to Coupang?
- In adjacent categories Coupang dwarfs Yes24: in 2024 Coupang's stationery/craft sales were about $897.8M versus Yes24's roughly $23.6M. Yes24 remains ranked #1 in Korea's online bookstore brand competitiveness index for 2024, but its core revenue is declining.
- Will AI replace Yes24's core business?
- Yes24's curation, chat, and metadata functions are AI-exposed, but the company claims proprietary reader data on 20 million-plus users and publisher and K-pop venue relationships as defenses. It announced (vendor-claimed) a 'Yes AI' foundation model targeted for end-2025, unverified as shipped as of this brief.
- What is Yes24's biggest competitor?
- Yes24 competes directly with Kyobo Book Centre and Aladin in books, and faces Coupang and Naver as larger adjacent platforms uninterested in books/ticketing so far. Aladin itself had a major breach in 2023 leaking about 720,000 e-books, a comparable security failure.
Timeline
- 2026-03-31Q1 FY2026 revenue KRW168.08B, down 7.39% YoY; TTM revenue down 9.82% YoY
- 2025-12-31FY2025 revenue KRW626.47B, down 6.66% YoY, net loss KRW44.67B
- 2025-08-11Second website outage, about 2 months after the ransomware attack
- 2025-06-16Co-CEOs apologize, announce voucher and Crema Club compensation package
- 2025-06-11PIPC launches probe into possible data breach from ransomware attack
- 2025-06-09Ransomware attack begins, taking book and ticketing platforms offline ~4-5 days
- 2025-04-14Hansae Yes24 Group announces 'Yes AI' foundation model plan, targeting end-2025
- 2025-04-13Group reveals it already built about 8 in-house small language models
- 2025-01-21Yes24 reports 900,000-plus copies sold of Nobel laureate Han Kang's works
- 2024-12-31FY2024 revenue KRW671.14B, up 2.13% YoY, net income KRW14.03B
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- YES24 Co.,Ltd (KOSDAQ:053280) (2026-06-27)
- gurufocus.com (2026-07-22)
- Yes24 admits to ransomware hack... (2025-06-10)
- PIPC launches probe into possible data breach in Yes24 ransomware attack (2025-06-11)
- Yes24 co-CEOs apologize, pledge compensation over ransomware attack (2025-06-16)
- Yes24 website down again only 2 months after ransomware attack (2025-08-11)
- Ransomware Rise: How the YES24 Cyberattack Reveals Global Digital Security Risks (2025-06-25)
- South Korea: online bookstore brand competitiveness index 2024 (2025-11-27)
- Han Kang (54), who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, sold 900,000 copies... (2025-01-21)
- Top Stationery, Crafts & Art Supplies stores in South Korea
- Yes24 Company & Revenue 2015-2027 (2026)
- Hansae Yes24 Group to unveil librarian-like 'Yes AI' model (2025-04-14)