Sea Group's management to forgo salary

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Sea Group's top management is reportedly relinquishing their salaries and restricting company expense policies "until the company reaches self-sufficiency", CEO Forrest Li (pictured) said in an internal memo, Bloomberg reported. This comes shortly after its eCommerce arm Shopee pulled out of Argentina and reverted to a cross-border model in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. It also carried out job cuts at Shopee and gaming unit Garena.

At the same time, Sea is also limiting business travel to economy class travel fares and meals on business trips are also capped at US$30 a day. Spending on hotel stays for business trips has also been limited to US$150 per night and it is eliminating reimbursement for meals and entertainment.

Li explained that "this is not a quickly passing storm" and in fact, it expects these "negative conditions" to remain in the medium term. Sea's chief also touched on the struggle that the company is going up against as interest rates rise, markets turn volatile, and inflation accelerates. According to him, Sea does not expect to be able to raise funds as investors seek "safe haven investments". He added that Sea's main objective for the next 12 to 18 months is to "achieve positive cash flow as soon as possible".

He also said being self-sufficient was key to being less reliant on external capital. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Sea for comment.

The company recently rescinded certain tech jobs in Singapore and China amidst adjustments, resulting in some prospective employees being stranded in Singapore was they were only told upon arrival. It also withdrew from Spain, India and France this year. Sea Group posted a total net loss of US$931.2 million during the second quarter and suspended its eCommerce forecast for 2022 as part of its efforts to adapt to increasing macro uncertainties.

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