What happened
Shares of Sea Limited (SE 1.65%) climbed 14.4% in November, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The gaming, e-commerce, and financial technology company has seen its stock more than quadruple year to date as it continues to scale new all-time highs.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
The company released its third-quarter earnings during the month, and both of its core divisions, digital entertainment and e-commerce, posted impressive revenue growth. Online gaming saw revenue surge 73% year over year to $569 million, as quarterly active users grew 78.3% year over year to reach 572.4 million. The company's self-developed game, Free Fire, was rated the highest-grossing mobile game in both Latin America and Southeast Asia during the quarter. Free Fire's esports tournaments have also accumulated more than 150 million views to date.
With the pandemic as a catalyst, e-commerce revenue more than doubled to $618.7 million. Gross merchandise volume, a measure of the volume of transactions passing through the platform, doubled year over year to $9.3 billion, as its e-commerce platform, Shopee, became the second-most downloaded app globally during the quarter.
Now what
The company was started just 11 years ago as Garena but has expanded into e-commerce since 2015. Since then, growth has been astounding and the business is also seeing strong adoption of its mobile wallet service. Total payment volume for the quarter exceeded $2.1 billion, while quarterly paying users hit 17.8 million. The company raised its guidance for both divisions for the full year and expects the strong bookings trend to continue.
Meanwhile, CEO Forrest Li was named Businessman of the Year at the Singapore Business Awards in recognition of his efforts. His goal is to help those who are uncomfortable with technology to embrace it and learn how to use it so that no one gets left behind. It's an admirable goal for a company that looks set to grow from strength to strength.
