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He also hiked his price target to $92 from $59, suggesting shares rallying 48.3% from where they closed on Tuesday. Analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich raised her price target to $370 from $315, suggesting 22% upside from Tuesday's close. — Hakyung Kim 6:04 a.m.: Citi raises price target on Amazon Amazon is becoming a more profitable organization, according to Citi. The price target increase comes on the heels of Amazon's new grocery delivery subscription launch. He cited increased operating income projections amid strong top-line trends for his price target increase.

Persons: Tesla, Rob Sanderson, Sanderson, Forrest Li, Hakyung Kim, Jessica Reif Ehrlich, — Hakyung Kim, Ronald Josey, Josey, GenAI, Kim, Goldman Sachs, Mark Delaney, Delaney, Goldman, Joseph Spak, Spak, TSLA, Wells Fargo's Colin Langan, Langan, James Lee, Lee, Fred Imbert Organizations: CNBC, Mizuho, Bank of America, Spotify Bank of America, Spotify, Citi, Amazon Web Services, Revenue, UBS, Summer

☆ Singapore's Sea Limited posts first profitable year amid efforts to defend market share against Lazada, TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Southeast Asian tech giant Sea Limited on Monday posted its first profitable year amid efforts to defend market share against Alibaba -owned Lazada and TikTok. Net income in 2023 was $162.7 million, as compared to a net loss of $1.7 billion in 2022. Sea's e-commerce arm Shopee made a "meaningful gain in market share" in 2023 despite "intensified competition in Southeast Asia," the firm said on Monday. Sea also said Shopee's market share in the region has "solidified" and the firm intends to "maintain our market share in 2024." Tokopedia merged with TikTok Shop in Indonesia to form an enlarged Tokopedia entity, in which TikTok will take a controlling stake of 75.01%.

Persons: Forrest Li, Li, Sea's, Shopee Organizations: Alibaba Locations: MariBank, Singapore, Sea's New York, Southeast Asia, Indonesia

☆ Fierce e-commerce war leaves Sea in stormy waters
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In August, CEO Forrest Li declared that Sea (SE.N) would ramp up spending to fight off intense competition. Perhaps that’s because Sea had just reset its strategy over the past year. It had retreated from overseas markets, slashed marketing costs and shed thousands of jobs to claw its way to profitability. Li on Tuesday stressed that the company would prioritise investments to increase its market share, encouraged by its cash pile of about $8 billion. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Forrest Li, Li, taints, Cameron, Francesco Guerrera, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Alibaba, HK, X, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, New York, Singapore

☆ Sea posts surprise loss on hefty e-commerce investments, shares fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Singapore-based Sea (SE.N) reported a surprise third-quarter loss as the Southeast Asian tech giant prioritized growth over profits by pouring money into its e-commerce business, sending its shares more than 17% lower on Tuesday. The company also expects to boost investments, it said, ahead of the key holiday shopping season in the fourth quarter. Sea has spent heavily in what is called "e-commerce live streaming", where products are sold over live videos, a model popular in China. The company posted a loss of 26 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, ending its streak of three straight profitable quarters. However, a global economic slowdown hit e-commerce and digital entertainment, forcing Sea to undertake hefty cost cuts including laying off thousands of employees.

Persons: Alibaba Group's, ByteDance's, Forrest Li, Chavi Mehta, Devika Organizations: HK, Thomson Locations: Singapore, China, Bengaluru

☆ Sea pivoted to growth over profits as it faced rising competition from TikTok, Lazada, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But analysts said the pivot is a move to defend market share. Defending your market share is the right strategy in e-commerce. CEO Shou Zi Chew said in June that TikTok would invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next few years to gain market share. Sea's decision to accelerate ecommerce investments in growth is likely to materially weigh on its earnings and share price in the near-term. "Sea's decision to accelerate ecommerce investments in growth is likely to materially weigh on its earnings and share price in the near-term," said JPMorgan.

Persons: Forrest Li, GoTo, Sachin Mittal, Woo, Li, JPMorgan, Jonathan Woo, Shou Zi Chew, TikTok, Alibaba's Lazada, Sea's Shopee, Lazada's GMV Organizations: Sea Ltd, Bloomberg, Getty, Local, DBS Bank, Phillip Securities Research, JPMorgan, Momentum Works Locations: Singapore, Lazada, Southeast Asia

☆ Sea sails recklessly into choppy e-commerce waters
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Singapore-based Sea Limited Chairman and CEO Forrest Li, speaks during an interview with CNBC following his company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 20, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Aug 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sea's (SE.N) boss Forrest Li has picked a turbulent time to rock the boat. But Li's declaration on Tuesday that it's time to "ramp up" investments again risks wiping out the hard-earned investor goodwill. Despite Li's assurances that Sea will keep emphasising self-sufficiency and cost efficiencies, investors promptly erased some $10 billion, or 29%, in market value. In July, the latter injected $845 million into its Southeast Asian arm, signalling a price war may be on the horizon.

Persons: Forrest Li, Brendan McDermid, HONG KONG, Li, China's Alibaba, Robyn Mak, Exor’s Philips, Bain, BoE, Antony Currie, Thomas Shum Organizations: CNBC, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Reuters, HK, Twitter, FC Barcelona’s, Messi, Thomson Locations: Singapore, New York, U.S, HONG, York

☆ Sea’s rising tide gets a harsh reality check
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, May 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sea (SE.N) was sailing strong. The $41 billion Southeast Asian internet giant retreated from overseas markets, slashed marketing spend, and shed thousands of jobs. Still, that wasn’t enough for the company to meet earnings estimates on Tuesday. Li is assuring the market that the company he built – once valued at over $200 billion -- is more self-sufficient. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Singaporean tech firm Sea's profit miss sparks share selloff
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 16 (Reuters) - Singaporean tech firm Sea Ltd (SE.N) missed first-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday, as its digital entertainment revenue halved and it took a one-time charge of more than $100 million. Sea shares dropped 12.5% to $77.05 and headed for their worst day in six months, dulling this year's strong gains booked on a cost-cutting plan involving thousands of job cuts, the closure of some operations and a lower marketing budget. The company's operating expenses fell by more than a fifth in the quarter ended March 31, with marketing spends down 60.2%. It helped Singapore-based Sea report a profit of $87.3 million, compared with a loss of $580.1 million a year ago. It also missed estimates of $3.07 billion.

☆ Singapore's Sea Group turns profitable for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Sea Limited's e-commerce arm, Shopee, turned positive adjusted EBITDA for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2022. The group also posted its first-ever positive net income in the quarter. The chairman and group CEO of Sea Limited, said on Tuesday that 2022 was "another year of evolution for us." Shopee and SeaMoneyMeanwhile, e-commerce business Shopee and digital payments arm SeaMoney continued to see strong growth in 2022. Positive EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, refers to the company operating at a profitable level.

☆ Sea sails past growth vs. profitability debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, March 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Singapore technology giant Sea (SE.N) on Tuesday reported its first ever quarterly profit, beating regional tech firms like GoTo (GOTO.JK) and Grab (GRAB.O) to the punch. The almost $1 billion swing from a fourth-quarter loss in 2021 to a $423 million profit in the final three months of last year is largely down to cost cuts. The company run by Forrest Li slashed sales and marketing expenses alone by $745 million, a whopping 62% drop. Whether that’s sustainable is unclear, though Li pointed out that the company had sold, closed or downsized a number of non-core operations and investments. It’s a welcome sign that upstart tech companies don’t always have to sacrifice profitability for growth.

☆ Sea Limited stock jumps as much as 41% as company renews focus on profitability
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of Sea Limited jumped as much as 41% following Tuesday's announcement of its third-quarter financial results, after the company said it will renew its focus on profitability instead of outright, blistering growth. In early morning Asia time, the stock was trading at about $62.70 in after hours trade. The company fell deeper into the red in the third quarter ending September, as adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $358 million. That's compared to the $166 million loss in the same period last year. In September, its top management also announced it will forgo salaries "until the company reaches self-sufficiency."

☆ Shopee, the Amazon of Asia, has laid off around 7,000 employees in the last 6 months, after latest cuts: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Britney Toh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopee laid off around 100 employees on Monday, adding up to around 7,000 jobs cut in the last six months, per Bloomberg. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. On Monday, a number of Shopee employees in Singapore and China received marching orders via emails, Bloomberg said. Sources also told The Straits Times that the latest round of layoffs was more low-key compared to the layoffs that happened in September. Shopee parent Sea Limited — which employed more than 67,000 people at the end of 2021 — let go a low single-digit percentage of employees on September 19.

☆ They were on the run from the Taliban, abandoned by their US allies — until a Wall Street banker decided to smuggle them out of Afghanistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Nina Burleigh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

His daughter worked for the US-backed government in Kabul, prosecuting the Taliban and their followers for acts of violence against women. The war in Afghanistan effectively began on 9/11, with the attacks on Wall Street and the Pentagon. Last summer, when the Taliban overran Kabul, Calbos was in Greece visiting his father. "I see kind of a mirror image to mine in his history and his family," Calbos says. With the clock ticking on the family's temporary visas, Calbos scrambled to arrange a flight out of Pakistan.

☆ Shopee, the Amazon of Southeast Asia, has been on a layoff spree within a year of raising $6 billion. We dug into the financials for an inside look.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Today, Li is the billionaire CEO of NYSE-listed Sea Limited, which owns 100% of Shopee as well a gaming unit called Garena. Amid these growing losses, Sea Limited revised and then dropped its ecommerce revenue guidance for the year. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Shopee expected ecommerce revenue in 2022 to fall between $8.9 billion and $9.1 billion. Sea Limited posted revenues of $414 million in 2017, which ballooned to almost $10 billion in 2021. However, Sea Limited has been posting losses for the past few quarters, so that option is not viable in the short-term.

☆ Sea CEO’s distress call will make tech waves
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A person stands in front of a signage of Southeast Asian e-commerce and gaming group Sea Ltd's, at their office in Singapore March 5, 2021. REUTERS/Edgar SuHONG KONG, Sept 21 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Candour is often welcome during times of distress. Forrest Li, the chief executive of Singapore's Sea (SE.N), is not mincing his words as he sounds the alarm at his $26 billion e-commerce to video-games outfit. Losses are widening at the $11 billion super-app as it continues to invest in fintech read more . They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Read the memo Singapore billionaire Forrest Li sent to employees of Shopee, the Amazon of Southeast Asia, as the company's losses widen and it prepares for layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In a 1,000-word memo sent to Shopee employees on September 15, Forrest Li — the billionaire founder, chairman, and CEO of Shopee — outlined drastic cost-cutting measures the company will be taking. "Our number one objective for the next 12-18 months is achieving self-sufficiency," Li wrote in the memo. Shopee parent Sea Limited has lost around $170 billion of market value since an October 2021 high, per Bloomberg. Shopee was founded in 2015 in seven markets across Southeast Asia and has since expanded operations into 13 markets total. In addition, the leadership team has decided that we will not take any cash compensation until the company achieves self-sufficiency.

☆ Shopee rolls out spending caps for all employees, including economy-only flights and $30 meals, as the company braces for layoffs and financial trouble
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On September 15, Shopee CEO Forrest Li told employees the company would be restricting expense policies. Layoff conversations began September 19, affecting a low-single-digit percentage of Shopee employees. Forrest Li, the company's billionaire founder, chairman, and CEO, told employees a tightened expense policy would be instituted from October 1 onwards. Li's memo came a few days before conversations began to lay off a low single-digit percentage of Shopee employees. Singapore-based Shopee was launched in seven Southeast Asia markets in 2015 and now operates in 13 countries across Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe, including Brazil, Poland, and China.

☆ Shopee, southeast Asia's answer to Amazon, is closing shop in 4 countries and laying off staff days after its billionaire founder said he'd forgo a salary
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ecommerce platform Shopee is laying off HR, regional ops, marketing, engineering staff. Shopee was launched in seven Southeast Asia markets in 2015 and now operates in 13 countries. Shopee reported a loss of $931.2 million in the second quarter of 2022, widening significantly compared to 2021. Shopee reported a loss of $931.2 million in the second quarter of 2022, widening significantly from a net loss of $433.7 million in the second quarter of 2021, according to Sea Limited's financial statements. However, in Brazil, Shopee's revenues rose by 270% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, the quarterly statements show.

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