That memo kicked off a sweeping overhaul of Sea over the next few months. The company laid off roughly more than 7,500 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, though Sea declined to disclose the actual numbers. It froze pay. Li and his leadership team gave up their salaries altogether.
Just over a year ago, Forrest Li was laid up in bed with Covid, fretting about the future of his company, Sea Ltd. So he propped himself up on a pillow to hammer out the latest in a series of memos that would change the course of his business — and perhaps the tech industry.
Sea had been a stock market phenom, racing to a market capitalization of more than US$200 billion ($267.93 billion) despite huge losses, but the world had changed. Investors had turned against money-losing tech companies. So Sea had to change with it, Li wrote. With a burning fever and nagging cough, he told his leadership team it was time to focus on profit and exit India.
