Sea, the largest of Southeast Asia’s internet firms and briefly the world’s best-performing stock, is emerging from a painful 2022. The company, which grew at triple-digit percentage rates just two years ago, has all but stopped expanding after rising interest rates and elevated inflation left online shoppers and gamers with less to spend.
Sea reported its first-ever profit, a milestone in the Southeast Asian gaming and e-commerce giant’s turnaround effort to convince investors of its money-making potential.
The stock gained as much as 19% in US trading to its highest intraday level since August after the Singapore-based company said net income was US$426.8 million in the fourth quarter, helped by drastic cost reductions. Analysts expected a loss of US$434 million on average. Sea’s revenue growth slowed dramatically but sales still exceeded estimates, rising 7.1% to US$3.5 billion.
