Vietnam’s 80 million-user messaging giant Zalo puts spotlight on parent VNG’s business

Zalo, owned by Vietnamese technology group VNG Corp, has updated its terms of service to require users to accept expanded collection and sharing of personal data, including government-issued ID numbers, location data, and usage behavior, or have their accounts deleted after 45 days.

The changes have drawn criticism from users and privacy experts, who say the all-or-nothing consent approach could be coercive ahead of Vietnam's Personal Data Protection Law taking effect on January 1.

Zalo is the dominant messaging and voice-calling platform in Vietnam, ahead of global rivals such as Meta's Facebook Messenger, according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan.

VNG said Zalo had 79.2 million monthly active users in the third quarter of 2025, up from 77.6 million a year earlier, with users sending about 2.1 billion messages a day. 

The company has not publicly detailed how much revenue Zalo contributes to the group, but filings show a growing focus on non-advertising income.

In 2024, VNG said revenue from high-value-added services and business services on platforms including Zalo doubled from the previous year, reflecting a shift toward enterprise solutions and paid features.

As part of that strategy, VNG set up Zalo Platforms Co Ltd in February 2025 to provide business services on Zalo. 

Corporate registry data show the unit has raised its charter capital twice, most recently increasing it to VND50 billion (US$1.9 million) on December 26 from VND30 billion ($1.1 million) a month earlier. VNG owns the unit outright.

Zalo Platforms is headed by Vu Trong Cuong, according to business registration records.

Zalo's scale has also made it a key channel for public services. 

By the end of 2024, more than 17,000 official Zalo accounts were operated by government agencies and public service providers nationwide, reaching over 40 million followers, VNG said.

VNG, founded by Le Hong Minh, remains one of Vietnam's largest technology firms but it has reported losses in recent years. 

The company posted consolidated net losses of VND2.3 trillion ($87.5 million) in 2023 and VND1.18 trillion ($44.9 million) in 2024, filings show, though losses narrowed sharply in the first nine months of 2025.

Despite Zalo's large user base, online gaming remains VNG's main revenue driver, according to the company.

VNG is privately held. As of July 2025, foreign shareholders held about 48 percent of the company, led by Tenacious Bulldog Holdings, registered in the British Virgin Islands, according to corporate registry data.