Sea Limited

Who owns Sea Limited?
Sea Limited is publicly traded on NYSE under ticker SE. Founder Forrest Li is the largest individual shareholder and serves as Chairman and CEO. Tencent Holdings is also a significant shareholder.

What does Sea Limited do?
Sea Limited operates three platforms: Shopee (e-commerce marketplace), Garena (online gaming, including Free Fire), and SeaMoney (digital financial services).

Is Sea Limited publicly traded?
Yes, Sea Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker SE. The company went public in October 2017.

Where is Sea Limited headquartered?
Sea Limited is headquartered in Singapore, with operations across Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

What is Shopee?
Shopee is Sea Limited's e-commerce marketplace and the dominant online shopping platform in most Southeast Asian markets. It competes primarily against Lazada (owned by Alibaba) and TikTok Shop.

Sea Limited was founded in 2009 by Forrest Li (Li Xiaodong) in Singapore. Li, who was born in China and educated at Stanford Business School, founded the company as Garena Interactive Holding, initially focused on online gaming.

Garena launched as an online gaming platform in Southeast Asia, distributing and operating games including League of Legends (Riot Games) and other titles. Garena became the dominant gaming platform in Southeast Asia, building a large user base across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia.

In 2015, Sea Limited launched Shopee, an e-commerce marketplace designed for mobile-first Southeast Asian consumers. Shopee's mobile-first approach, social commerce features, and aggressive marketing helped it rapidly gain market share against established competitors including Lazada (owned by Alibaba).

Sea Limited launched SeaMoney (originally AirPay) to provide digital payment and financial services to its growing user base. SeaMoney obtained digital banking licenses in Singapore and other markets.

Sea Limited went public on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2017, raising approximately $884 million. The IPO valued the company at approximately $4.7 billion.

Sea Limited's stock surged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021, as e-commerce and gaming demand accelerated. The company's market capitalization reached approximately $200 billion at its peak in late 2021.

Sea Limited expanded beyond Southeast Asia, launching Shopee in Brazil in 2019 and in several European markets in 2021. However, the company subsequently retreated from most of its international expansion outside Southeast Asia and Taiwan, citing the need to focus on profitability.

Garena's flagship game, Free Fire, became one of the most downloaded mobile games globally, particularly popular in Southeast Asia, India, and Latin America.

For fiscal year 2024, Sea Limited reported revenue of approximately $16.8 billion.

Sea Limited's rapid international expansion into Brazil and Europe in 2021 was followed by an equally rapid retreat in 2022, as the company prioritized profitability over growth. The expansion and retreat cost the company significant resources and raised questions about strategic planning.

Garena's Free Fire was banned in India in 2022 as part of India's broader ban on Chinese-linked apps, citing national security concerns. The ban significantly impacted Garena's user base and revenue.

Sea Limited has faced regulatory scrutiny in various markets regarding its digital banking licenses and financial services operations.