Sea CEO Declares 5% Raises After Singapore Firm Turns a Profit
Sea Ltd.’s billionaire founder declared a 5% pay increase for most employees starting July, sending a strong signal to investors he thinks the e-commerce and gaming business has turned the corner after years of bleeding losses.
Workers who joined on or before March 31 will get the salary bump, Forrest Li said in a memo to staff on Monday, seen by Bloomberg News. He said Sea has reached “self-sufficiency” as its cash balance is now increasing rather than shrinking every quarter, a goal it achieved months ahead of a target set last year.
The across-the-board hike marks a reversal from just a couple of quarters ago, when Li surprised investors with a company-wide salary freeze and deep layoffs. The $TENCENT (00700.HK)$ Tencent Holdings Ltd.-backed Southeast Asian internet leader’s about-face may presage a broader recovery for the region’s tech sector, which like elsewhere has endured deep job losses and downward-spiraling valuations after a Covid-era online spending boom sputtered out in 2022.
Sea reported its first-ever quarterly net profit in March, about 14 years after its founding. The company took brutal measures last year to convince investors of its profit-making ability, including cutting thousands of jobs, retreating from major markets and slashing more than $700 million from its quarterly sales and marketing expenses.
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