Billionaire Forrest Li’s Sea Doubles Revenue As Pandemic Boosts E-Commerce Demand

Sea Ltd., the New York-listed tech giant, said late Tuesday its revenue in the first quarter more than doubled as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to boost demand for e-commerce and digital entertainment across Southeast Asia.

The Singapore-headquartered company reported that first quarter revenue climbed 147% to $1.8 billion compared to a year ago. Its e-commerce unit Shopee contributed $922 million, while digital entertainment arm Garena accounted for $781 million.

“Our strong performance in terms of user growth and engagement shows that digital adoption is still rising healthily,” company chairman Forrest Li said in a webcast after posting the results. “The communities we serve continue to embrace the benefits of online lifestyles.”

Despite the strong revenue growth, Sea remained in the red, with its net loss widening to $422 million in the first quarter from $281 million a year ago. The company’s operating expenses doubled as the company stepped up marketing efforts to capture market share.

Sea is competing with rivals Grab and the newly merged GoTo for supremacy in the race for the Southeast Asian super app. It has been aggressively expanding its e-commerce business across the region, particularly in Indonesia where it recently launched ShopeeFood delivery service, while scaling its digital financial services.

“The digital financial services sector in our region is still in the early stages and expect it to develop significantly more use cases, features and opportunities in due course,” Li said. “As we scale this business, we will apply the same rigor and discipline in efficiency as we have achieved across our businesses so far.”

Read more on Forbes: Forrest Li’s Sea Ltd Surges As Pandemic Drives Digitalization Across ASEAN

In 2020, Sea won a digital banking license in Singapore and acquired Indonesian lender Bank BKE (Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi), which it plans to transform into a digital bank.

Li, 42, cofounded Sea with Gang Ye and David Chen in 2009, the year the trio launched Garena. Originally from mainland China, the partners are now naturalized Singapore citizens and billionaires in their own right. With an estimated net worth of $7.1 billion, Li was ranked No. 7 in the Singapore Rich List when it was last published in August. Ye was ranked No. 11 and Chen came in at No. 25.

The fortunes of Li and his cofounders soared last year as Sea shares skyrocketed after consumers turned to online shopping during the pandemic. Sea has a market cap of $118 billion, making it the most valuable company in Southeast Asia.