Shopee to layoff workers in PH amid mounting losses in 2022
In an effort to “optimize” its business, Shopee, the owner of one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, will reduce the number of staff it has in the Philippines.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the Singapore-based company’s planned modifications would result in a low-single-digit percentage decrease in the local staff, comparable to the rationalization process that would impact numerous teams across various regions.
The move comes after a series of layoffs and closures initiated by Shopee in several locations this year.
The company’s losses are also mounting. Sea Limited, parent company of Shopee, reported a loss of $931.2 million in the second quarter of 2022, widening significantly from a net loss of $433.7 million in the second quarter of 2021 and on the tail of two straight quarters of losses.
Shopee shuttered its operations in India in March and fired 300 employees. A month prior, regulatory action by the Indian government resulted in the prohibition of several applications, including Free Fire from Garena.
Shopee, which had only one location in Europe, left France in March.
The South China Morning Post said that Shopee withdrew many employment offers at the end of August. One of instances was an offer made to a Chinese citizen, who learned that the offer had been withdrawn after he and his wife and dog arrived in Singapore.
According to the local news source Straits Times, Shopee informed employees at the beginning of September that it was ceasing all operations in Argentina as well as in Chile, Columbia, and Mexico.
Then, on September 15, just a few days before the layoffs started, Shopee founder Forrest Li sent a 1,000-word message to the workforce. He stated that the challenging market conditions are “not a swiftly passing storm” and that the company’s goal will be to achieve self-sufficiency during the following 12 to 18 months.
Li wrote that the company has a “solid cash base” but warned that “we can easily run through this cash base if we are not careful, and with investors fleeing for ‘safe haven’ investments, we do not anticipate being able to raise funds in the market.” He also outlined a series of cost-cutting measures the company would be implementing, including top-level executives temporarily forgoing salaries.
