Esports and E-commerce Firm Soars After Reorganization of Staff and Offices Worldwide

  • Sea Limited's SE e-commerce arm Shopee will exit Argentina and shut local operations in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, while its Garena gaming unit will lay off hundreds of staff in Shanghai, Reuters reports citing an internal mail.
  • Shopee CEO said "in light of the current elevated macro uncertainty," Sea needed to "focus resources on core operations."
  • Sea slashed workforce across its units after reporting a nearly $1 billion quarterly loss in April-June. 
  • Garena's most significant source of revenue is the Free Fire mobile game. Sea will quit Argentina entirely and maintain cross-border operations in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. However, it will lay off dozens of local employees.
  • Sea reportedly laid off people in Shanghai, a major development center for Garena. It let go up to 15% of employees at the Shanghai office this week, with the number in the "low several hundreds."
  • Garena also canceled multiple new games. Meanwhile, Shopee has dumped dozens of job offers in the past two weeks. It withdrew offers of at least four candidates just days before their joining.
  • Earlier in September, Sea slashed the workforce in Garena, marking its second attempt in 2022 to contain costs as it struggled for growth.
  • Sea scaled back its overseas footprint and periphery businesses to focus on boosting profitability. It explored cutting headcount in its most profitable division Garena and new ventures at its R&D arm. 
  • Contrastingly, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA-owned Lazada Group braced for a Europe foray after its success in Southeast Asia.
  • Price Action: SE shares traded higher by 7.19% at $63.63 on the last check Friday.
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