Forrest Li’s Sea Ltd turns red as Shopee incurs losses
Sea Ltd. – controlled by billionaire Forrest Li—sank deeper into losses as its e-commerce platform Shopee widened and expenses surged.
Credits: Bloomberg Finance
The Singapore-based e-commerce and gaming giant reported on Tuesday that its net loss in the first quarter of March widened to $580 million from $422 million. While overall revenue climbed 64% to $2.9 billion, the Shopee’s operating expenses surged 68% to $1.7 billion due to higher marketing costs as well as research and development expenditures, the company said in a statement.
The reason for Sea’s losses is due to the consolidation of its e-commerce operations following an aggressive global expansion trend in recent years.
“In the past two years, we successfully navigated the major uncertainties brought due to COVID-19 to capture the significant growth opportunities presented to us across all businesses. Moreover, as we enter a new period, we recognize that the bigger trends and uncertainties can affect our region and the world in the near to mid-term.”
Li said in a statement. (Forbes)
The recovery in Sea’s share price has dragged down the fortunes of the company’s three cofounders, with the real-time net worth of Sea chairman Li, 44, gone down to $4.6 billion this week from $15.9 billion high in August when the list of Forbes Singapore’s 50 Richest was published.
Source: Forbes
