Singapore's Sea Limited posts first profitable year amid efforts to defend market share against Lazada, TikTok

Southeast Asian tech giant Sea Limited on Monday posted its first profitable year amid efforts to defend market share against Alibaba-owned Lazada and TikTok.

Net income in 2023 was $162.7 million, as compared to a net loss of $1.7 billion in 2022. There was a net loss of $111.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, as compared to net income of $422.8 million in the same period a year ago.

"In 2023, we achieved profitability, strengthened our market leadership for our e-commerce business, grew our digital financial services business, and stabilized the performance of our digital entertainment business," said Forrest Li, chairman and CEO of Sea, on Monday. Before that, Sea was largely unprofitable, amassing billions of dollars in losses since its inception in 2009.

Sea operates in Southeast Asian markets and has businesses in e-commerce (Shopee), financial services (SeaMoney) and gaming (Garena).

"We have emerged with a much stronger balance sheet with our cash position increasing to 8.5 billion dollars as of the end of 2023, demonstrating the discipline and prudence we have applied in our investments over the past year," said Li.

Sea's New York-listed shares closed 5.58% higher on Monday. Li said the firm expects 2024 to be a profitable year as well.

Sea's e-commerce arm Shopee made a "meaningful gain in market share" in 2023 despite "intensified competition in Southeast Asia," the firm said on Monday. Sea also said Shopee's market share in the region has "solidified" and the firm intends to "maintain our market share in 2024."

Shopee faces stiff competition from players like Alibaba-owned Lazada and Indonesia's Tokopedia in the region. Tokopedia merged with TikTok Shop in Indonesia to form an enlarged Tokopedia entity, in