Shopee-Owner Sea Sales Top Estimates as Online Shoppers Keep Spending

Sea Ltd. second-quarter sales beat analysts’ estimates as more of Southeast Asia’s consumers turn to online shopping for anything from iPhones to daily groceries.

The stock climbed 8 percent in pre-market trading after Sea said revenue rose 38 percent to a record $5.26 billion in the three months through June. Analysts estimated $5 billion on average. Net income jumped to $414.2 million from $79.9 million a year earlier, but fell short of the $444 million analysts predicted.

The results assuage some concerns about the prospects of e-commerce arm Shopee. The region’s top online retail platform is battling deep-pocketed global challengers including ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok Shop and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Lazada. Emerging players like Shein and PDD Holding Inc.’s Temu are also eyeing to break into the emerging region of 675 million people where more and more shoppers are coming online.

To boost its bottom line, Shopee has been steadily raising the commissions it charges merchants in various core markets by about a third since the start of last year. The hikes, which bring Shopee’s fees above its rivals, show that Sea is confident it can attract and retain merchants, helped by a broad user base and well-established delivery services. Shopee’s second-quarter revenue rose 34 percent to $3.8 billion, helped by surging commissions and ad revenue.

Sea is also betting on new initiatives from digital finance to logistics to grow its dominance and convince investors of its growth potential. Its logistics arm SPX Express now handles the majority of Shopee’s billions of parcels annually, while its finance arm — now known as Monee — increased sales 70 percent last quarter to $882.8 million. Bookings at gaming division Garena rose 23 percent.

“In the past, cash flow from Sea’s gaming arm Garena was used to grow Shopee and Monee, but now Shopee and Monee are in healthier capital positions,” Hussaini Saifee, an analyst at Maybank Securities, said before the results. “Sea can now invest in further developing Garena which has also made a strong rebound over the last year and a half.”

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

Competitive pressure remains a risk as Shopee’s average monthly active users (MAUs) in 2Q25 were flat sequentially in Southeast Asia vs. 55 percent growth for Temu and 5 percent for TikTok, SensorTower data show. In Brazil, Shopee’s MAUs rose 4.6 percent, MercadoLibre’s 5 percent, and Temu’s 35 percent. Temu’s MAU growth stems from a low base, with MAU at 6 percent of Shopee’s in Southeast Asia and 13 percent in Brazil as of June.

By Olivia Poh and Benicia Tan

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Southeast Asia’s E-Commerce Leader Fends Off TikTok

Singapore-based Sea boosted its sales forecast for its online retailing arm, Shopee, as it battles fierce competition from TikTok and Lazada.