Sea cuts more jobs at Shopee days after posting surprise profit

SEA is cutting more jobs at e-commerce unit Shopee in Indonesia, days after reporting a surprise first-ever quarterly profit helped by last year’s extensive firings.

The latest cuts affect fewer than 500 full-time and contract workers in Shopee’s customer service team in Indonesia, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named as the information is private. Those affected were notified on Thursday (Mar 9), the person said.

A representative for Sea did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Singapore-based e-commerce, gaming and fintech provider last year cut more than 7,000 jobs, froze salaries and trimmed spending, helping it to swing to a profit in the fourth quarter.

Chief corporate officer Wang Yanjun told analysts during Tuesday’s earnings call that Sea did not foresee any further major changes regarding its headcount.

South-east Asia’s largest Internet company racked up its biggest single-day gain in months on Tuesday after it reported the surprise profit. This has energised investors who are hoping that the company will pull off one of the biggest turnaround efforts that the region’s fledgling tech sector has ever witnessed. BLOOMBERG