Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, any opinions expressed below are solely the author’s.
Sea Ltd is a very successful Singapore company that turned into a major technology company.
Six months ago, it was directly facing DBS for the title of the most important company in the city region, exceeding 100 billion dollars in the capital market.
That figure has now dropped to just over US$40 billion.
This is despite the numbers he continues to report, which are, by almost any objective measure, excellent.
In the full year of 2025, Lwandle brought in $1.985 billion in revenue—more than three times what it received in 2024—after nearly $30 billion in revenue (a 30% increase), as Shopee continues to dominate regional ecommerce with a reported 52% market share in Southeast Asia.
One could understand the post-pandemic slide, when the markets crashed towards the end of 2021, and money dropped from unproven companies burning billions of dollars collected from investors each year to fuel their unprofitable expansion. At one point, the Ocean had lost nearly 90% of its 2021 peak, and some questioned whether it could survive on its own.
However, after reaching its bottom line around 2023, it has made a successful turnaround and transformed into a mature business that not only controls its own destiny but continues to grow at an incredible pace, while expanding its financial services offering through its Monee arm, which has increased its lending by 80% in the past year.
Its survival is no longer threatened, as it has amassed $11 billion ($14 billion) in cash that it can use for future investments.
If it is so good, then why is it so bad?
It is not an unexpected company, but a market
The decline in sea value appears to be due to its continued treatment as growth stock.
Despite its market dominance, which has made Shopee push its biggest ecommerce rival Lazada aside, Lwandle is not treated as a domestic brand, but rather an unusual and unpredictable stock, despite its current performance.
It’s not good news for today, but uncertainty about the future is what makes people cautious.
The rapid increase of the TikTok Store throughout Asia—which has managed to hold double digits in several countries (up to 40% in Vietnam)—might scare investors into thinking that the best days of the sea are over and that it will not be able to compete with the social media behemoth that can reach the captive audience that the Sea has to pay for.
This may have encouraged shareholders to cash in their huge gains from the past two years (when Sea was more successful in investing in crypto or Nvidia) and wait to see the results of the competition.
Shopee’s first few years in business were marked by competition from the already established Lazada, which was acquired by Chinese giant Alibaba as part of its Southeast Asian presence. The Singaporean startup finally beat the incumbent to take its place.
Having established itself as the market leader, it is facing a challenge from another competitor. Just like in 2023, when it had to show that it can stand on its own, today, it has to show that it can do more than just protect its holdings and continue to grow at an incredible pace.
The bar set by the markets keeps getting higher. Forrest Li was always able to pull it off. Can he do it again?
The future of his company, and his fortune, depend on it.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singapore businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Sea Ltd.
