Sea Ltd’s e-commerce arm told employees on Thursday it was shutting down local operations in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico and leaving Argentina entirely, Reuters news report said.
The Singapore-based company will maintain cross-border operations in the first three markets but will cut the majority of its teams in the countries, affecting dozens of employees. Brazil, in which Shopee has become a dominant player, will not be affected.
Shopee CEO Chris Feng wrote to employees that in light of the current elevated macro uncertainty, the company needed to focus resources on core operations and decided to concentrate on a cross-border model in Shopee Mexico, Colombia and Chile.
Shopee confirmed in a statement to Reuters that it would concentrate on a cross-border model in Mexico, Colombia and Chile, and close in Argentina.
Sea saw its market value soar to more than $200 billion last October as its gaming and e-commerce units surged in popularity during the pandemic, but its shares have tumbled since then and are now worth just $27 billion.
Sea’s leadership has given directives to Shopee managers to achieve profitability in its key markets in Southeast Asia by 2023.
Shopee announced in March it was shutting down nascent operations in India and France.
In June, Shopee cut jobs across its e-commerce and food delivery divisions, both in Southeast Asia and its Latin American operations. Shopee has rescinded dozens of job offers in the past two weeks, Reuters reported earlier.
