Coway Co., Ltd. () is an international manufacturer of household appliances, water purifiers, air purifiers, bidets, water softeners, and mattresses from

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. Founded and headquartered in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, Coway is the largest water purifier company in the country and owns subsidiaries in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The company is listed on the

Korea Exchange Korea Exchange (KRX, ) is the sole securities exchange operator in South Korea. It is headquartered in Busan, and has an office for cash markets and market oversight in Seoul. History The Korea Exchange was created through the integration of K ...

and is a subsidiary of

Netmarble Netmarble Corp. (Korean: 넷마블 주식회사) is a South Korean game developer and publisher, which was founded in 2000 by Bang Jun-hyuk. History Netmarble has its origins in the video game developer Ipopsoft (). Around the late 1990s, that ...

since 2019. Recently, Coway is also focusing on the bedding products, such as

mattresses A mattress is a large, usually rectangular pad for supporting a person Lying (position), lying down, especially for sleeping. It is designed to be used as a bed, or on a bed frame as part of a bed. Mattresses may consist of a Quilting, quilted o ...

History

Woongjin Group founded the company under the name Woongjin Coway in 1989. Beginning with

water purifier Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

s designed for the Korean market, Coway gained recognition with its product, the "Coway Water Purifier," launched in 1991. The company's commitment to innovation led to the introduction of the "COMPAC Water Purifier (CP-6025)" in 1992, followed by a foray into air purification in 1995. With strategic partnerships and research, Coway ascended to the number one spot in South Korea's air purifier and water filter markets by 1999. Amid financial concerns, Woongjin Group sold its majority shares in Coway to the private equity fund

MBK Partners MBK Partners (MBKP) is a private equity firm focused on North Asia. According to Forbes, MBK Partners is one of the largest private equity firms in Asia. In 2023, ''Private Equity International'', ranked MBK Partners as the eighth largest privat ...

in 2013, which remained the holding company of Coway until 2018. Woongjin briefly reacquired its shares from MBK in late 2018 for 1.68 trillion won (1.4 billion dollars), renaming the company back to Woongjin Coway in the process. However, their shares in Coway were put in auction less than a year later. Initially, companies such as

Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

, Haier Group and SK Networks placed bids, but all eventually withdrew. The bid was later sold to mobile game developer

for 1.74 trillion won, despite Woongjin initially attempting to sell its shares for more than 2 trillion. Netmarble remains the largest holding company of Coway to the present day. Over time, the company has pursued global expansion, establishing its presence in various countries including Malaysia, the USA, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, and Europe.

Coway Malaysia

Coway Malaysia is a subsidiary company of Coway mainly responsible for distributing Coway products in

. The subsidiary was founded in May 2006, with an initial investment of 5.8 million

Malaysian ringgit The Malaysian ringgit (; plural: ringgit; symbol: RM; currency code: MYR; Malay name: ''Ringgit Malaysia''; formerly the Malaysian dollar) is the currency of Malaysia. Issued by the Central Bank of Malaysia, it is divided into 100 cents ( M ...

. Coway Malaysia is the largest subsidiary of the parent company, making up over 70% of its overseas revenue, amounting to over 1,091.6 billion won (837 million dollars) in 2022.

Products

Water Care: This includes water purifiers available in various configurations such as countertop, standing, and under-sink models. Air Care: This division primarily focuses on air purifiers. Body Care: This category includes bidets, massage chairs, and water softeners. In addition to these core products, Coway provides services encompassing sterilization, cleaning, and self-management. The company also offers support services, especially for filter maintenance and troubleshooting.

Design

The company has been recognized with several awards, including the

Red Dot Design Award The Red Dot Design Award is an international, annual design competition for product and industrial design, brand and communication design as well as design concepts, in which the Red Dot quality label is awarded to winners. The Red Dot Design A ...

for 17 consecutive years. In 2023, Coway also received accolades at the

iF Design Award The iF Product Design Award was introduced in 1954 and is annually conferred by the iF International Forum Design. The award, which spans multiple disciplines, has more than 5,500 entries from around 59 nations every year. History The iF Indus ...

Financial overview

As of recent data, Coway's stock price stands at $31.18, with a revenue of $2.96B (TTM) and a net income of $342M. Its growth rate has been recorded at 0.80%. In Q4 of 2022, the company reported a revenue of KRW 980.2B, marking a 3.6% increase YoY. For the same year, its overseas revenue for Q4 was KRW 360.6B, a significant 19.6% growth YoY. In Q2 of 2023, Coway reported financial growth with a revenue of KRW 1,006.2B, marking a 2.9% increase YoY.

R&D and technology

Coway's R&D center has been recognized as a CSA Qualified Witness Laboratory, a designated TÜV SÜD testing laboratory, a TSP (Technical Service Provider) by WQA (Water Quality Association), an international testing laboratory with accreditation from KOLAS (Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme), and a drinking water quality inspection agency by South Korea’s Ministry of the Environment.

Controversies

In 2016, three of Coway's ice cube maker models were discovered to leak trace amounts of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

into its water. Allegedly, the company attempted to hide the defect from customers for a year. Coway was forced to recall models from an estimated 87 thousand customers in 2016, and several clients moved to file lawsuits against the company. Coway's CEO at the time, Kim Dong-hyun, was brought to resign from his position following the controversy as well.

References

External links

{{KOSPI 200 South Korean companies established in 1989 Companies based in Seoul Electronics companies of South Korea Companies listed on the Korea Exchange Companies in the KOSPI 200