Sea, owner of shopping site Shopee, plans to put off 3 percent of its Indonesian staff
Sea Ltd is preparing to put off 3 percent of Shopee’s staff in Indonesia, a part of a broader wave of regional job cuts aimed toward curbing mounting losses and winning back investors.
The Singapore-based company will start notifying affected employees at its cash-sensitive e-commerce unit on Monday, in response to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. The 3 percent cut in Indonesia coincides with layoffs across the division at a low-single-digit rate, said an individual aware of the matter, who asked to not be identified discussing the inner operations.
Shopee is one among Sea’s two important firms, together with the gaming division that popularized the mobile hit “Free Fire.” The company ended 2021 with over 67,000 employees. At a town hall Monday, management announced impending layoffs at affected teams, which included Shopee’s marketing and operations departments.
Shopee owner lays off video game staff in Shanghai and leaves Argentina
Shopee owner lays off video game staff in Shanghai and leaves Argentina
“These changes are part of our ongoing efforts to optimize operational efficiency to achieve self-sufficiency across our business,” Shopee said in an emailed statement, without going into details. The memo says the corporate intends to supply severance pay and assistance as needed.
Sea has lost about $170 billion in market value since its October peak amid questions on its prospects for earning profits in an era of rising rates of interest and intensifying competition from Alibaba Group in its Asian stronghold.
Last week, billionaire co-founder Forrest Li announced in an internal memo that top management would waive salaries and tighten the corporate’s spending policies as the corporate, for which Tencent Holdings is its largest investor, tries to guard itself from an economic slowdown.
In particular, Shopee’s Sea division withdrew from major markets in Europe and Latin America and was also banned from entering India attributable to rising tensions with Chinese firms. According to Bloomberg News, Southeast Asia’s largest technology company plans to scale back employment within the gaming industry – its most profitable division – and introduce latest ventures in its research and development department.
“This was a very difficult decision to make,” management said within the memo. “We will generally offer a fair package to employees who leave us and provide assistance where needed.”
