“After a very strong first half of the year, our momentum has continued into the third quarter. Our focus remains the same: continuing to deliver high and profitable growth across all three of our businesses. With e-commerce and digital finance penetration in our markets still low but increasing, strong growth lays the best foundation to maximize our long-term profitability,” said Forrest Li, Sea’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
On e-commerce, he said, “Shopee delivered another record-setting quarter, achieving new highs in quarterly GMV, gross order volume, and revenue. We also improved our year-on-year profitability across Asia and Brazil. Our monetization gains, strong growth momentum, and healthy balance sheet have positioned us well to capture even more growth opportunities. With our strong performance year to date, we now expect Shopee’s full-year 2025 GMV growth to be more than 25%.”
On digital financial services, Mr. Li said, “Monee has delivered another very strong quarter, driven by both user growth and product expansion across multiple markets. Our portfolio quality and our unit economics have remained healthy. We are extending SPayLater’s reach beyond e-commerce and embedding it into users’ everyday financial use cases, building a pathway for strong off-Shopee growth for many years to come.”
On digital entertainment, Mr. Li said, “Garena has delivered another stellar quarter. Bookings were up 51% year-on-year, making it our best quarter since 2021. Free Fire anchored this strong performance with two high-impact campaigns: Squid Game and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Chapter 2. With this very strong quarter, Garena remains on track to achieve more than 30% year-on-year growth in bookings for 2025.”
Third Quarter 2025 Highlights
* Group
* E-commerce
* Digital Financial Services
* Digital Entertainment
Three Months Ended September 30, 2025 Compared to Three Months Ended September 30, 2024
Revenue
Our total GAAP revenue increased by 38.3% to US$6.0 billion in the third quarter of 2025 from US$4.3 billion in the third quarter of 2024. The table below sets forth our revenue breakdown. Amounts are expressed in thousands of US dollars (“$”).
* E-commerce: Our e-commerce service GAAP revenue increased by 36.6% to US$3.8 billion in the third quarter of 2025 from US$2.8 billion in the third quarter of 2024, primarily driven by the growth of GMV.
* Digital Financial Services: Our digital financial services GAAP revenue increased by 60.8% to US$989.9 million in the third quarter of 2025 from US$615.7 million in the third quarter of 2024, primarily driven by the growth of our credit business as our lending activities increased.
* Digital Entertainment: Our digital entertainment GAAP revenue increased by 31.2% to US$653.0 million in the third quarter of 2025 from US$497.8 million in the third quarter of 2024. This increase was primarily due to the increase in our active user base as well as the deepened paying user penetration.
* Sales of goods: GAAP revenue increased by 23.8% to US$517.7 million in the third quarter of 2025 from US$418.0 million in the third quarter of 2024.
Cost of Revenue
Our total cost of revenue was US$3.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to US$2.5 billion in the third quarter of 2024. The table below sets forth our cost of revenue breakdown. Amounts are expressed in thousands of US dollars (“$”).
* E-commerce: Cost of revenue was US$2.5 billion in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to US$1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2024, primarily driven by an increase in logistics costs as orders volume grew.
* Digital Financial Services: Cost of revenue was US$125.7 million in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to US$91.4 million in the third quarter of 2024, primarily driven by server and hosting expenses, and other costs associated with our credit business, which include collection expenses and bank transaction fees.
* Digital Entertainment: Cost of revenue was US$224.2 million in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to US$156.0 million in the third quarter of 2024, primarily from payment channel costs, which was largely in line with the increase in our digital entertainment revenue, as well as higher royalties associated with the use of third-party intellectual properties.
* Cost of goods sold: Cost of goods sold increased by 28.1% to US$491.9 million in the third quarter of 2025 from US$383.8 million in the third quarter of 2024.
Other Operating Income
Our other operating income was US$27.0 million and US$40.6 million in the third quarter of 2025 and 2024, respectively. Other operating income mainly consists of rebates from e-commerce related logistics services providers.
Sales and Marketing Expenses
Our total sales and marketing expenses increased by 30.9% to US$1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2025 from US$878.6 million in the third quarter of 2024. The table below sets forth breakdown of the sales and marketing expenses of our major reporting segments. Amounts are expressed in thousands of US dollars (“$”).
General and Administrative Expenses
Our general and administrative expenses increased by 10.8% to US$340.0 million in the third quarter of 2025 from US$306.8 million in the third quarter of 2024.
Provision for Credit Losses
Our provision for credit losses increased by 76.3% to US$373.8 million in the third quarter of 2025 from US$212.0 million in the third quarter of 2024.
Research and Development Expenses
Our research and development expenses decreased by 5.2% to US$286.3 million in the third quarter of 2025 from US$302.0 million in the third quarter of 2024.
Non-operating Income or Losses, Net
Non-operating income or losses mainly consist of interest income, interest expense, investment gain (loss), foreign exchange gain (loss) and gain (loss) on debt extinguishment. We recorded a net non-operating income of US$61.2 million in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to a net non-operating income of US$49.5 million in the third quarter of 2024. The non-operating income in the third quarter of 2025 was primarily due to interest income of US$81.8 million, offset by interest expense of US$8.9 million and foreign exchange loss of US$8.0 million.
Income Tax Expense
We had a net income tax expense of US$161.1 million and US$92.6 million in the third quarter of 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Net Income or Loss
As a result of the foregoing, we had net income of US$375.0 million in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to net income of US$153.3 million in the third quarter of 2024.
Basic and Diluted Earnings or Loss Per Share Attributable to Sea Limited’s Ordinary Shareholders
Basic earnings per share attributable to Sea Limited’s ordinary shareholders was US$0.63 in the third quarter of 2025, compared to basic earnings per share attributable to Sea Limited’s ordinary shareholders of US$0.26 in the third quarter of 2024.
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Sea Limited’s ordinary shareholders was US$0.59 in the third quarter of 2025, compared to diluted earnings per share attributable to Sea Limited’s ordinary shareholders of US$0.24 in the third quarter of 2024.
Webcast and Conference Call Information
The Company’s management will host a conference call today to review Sea’s business and financial performance.
Details of the conference call and webcast are as follows:
A replay of the conference call will be available at the Company’s investor relations website (www.sea.com/investor/home). An archived webcast will be available at the same link above.
About Sea Limited
Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) is a leading global consumer internet company founded in Singapore in 2009. Its mission is to better the lives of consumers and small businesses with technology. Sea operates three core businesses across digital entertainment, e-commerce, as well as digital financial services, known as Garena, Shopee and Monee, respectively. Garena is a leading global online games developer and publisher. Shopee is the largest pan-regional e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan and has a significant presence in Latin America. Monee is a leading digital financial services provider in Southeast Asia and is growing its presence in Brazil.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “could,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “future,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “likely to,” “potential,” “confident,” “guidance,” and similar statements. Among other things, statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Sea’s beliefs and expectations, the business, financial and market outlook, and projections from its management in this announcement, as well as Sea’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Sea may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases, and other written materials, and in oral statements made by its officers, directors, or employees to third parties. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Sea’s goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition, financial results, and results of operations; the expected growth in, and market size of, the digital entertainment, e-commerce and digital financial services industries in the markets where it operates, including segments within those industries; expected changes or guidance in its revenue, costs or expenditures; its ability to continue to source, develop and offer new and attractive online games and to offer other engaging digital entertainment content; the expected growth of its digital entertainment, e-commerce and digital financial services businesses; its expectations regarding growth in its user base, level of engagement, and monetization; its ability to continue to develop new technologies and/or upgrade its existing technologies; growth and trends of its markets and competition in its industries; government policies and regulations relating to its industries, including the effects of any government orders or actions on its businesses; general economic, political, social and business conditions in its markets; and the impact of widespread health developments. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Sea’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Sea undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we use the following non-GAAP financial measures to help evaluate our operating performance:
* “Adjusted EBITDA” for our digital entertainment segment represents operating income (loss) plus (a) depreciation and amortization expenses, and (b) the net effect of changes in deferred revenue and its related cost for our digital entertainment segment. We believe that the segment adjusted EBITDA helps to identify underlying trends in our operating results, enhancing their understanding of the past performance and future prospects.
* “Adjusted EBITDA” for our e-commerce segment, digital financial services segment and other services segment represents operating income (loss) plus depreciation and amortization expenses. We believe that the segment adjusted EBITDA helps to identify underlying trends in our operating results, enhancing their understanding of the past performance and future prospects.
* “Total adjusted EBITDA” represents the sum of adjusted EBITDA of all our segments combined, plus unallocated expenses. We believe that the total adjusted EBITDA helps to identify underlying trends in our operating results, enhancing their understanding of the past performance and future prospects.
These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools. None of the above financial measures should be considered in isolation or construed as an alternative to revenue, net loss/income, or any other measure of performance or as an indicator of our operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures to Sea’s data. We compensate for these limitations by reconciling the non-GAAP financial measures to their nearest U.S. GAAP financial measures, all of which should be considered when evaluating our performance. We encourage you to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on any single financial measure.
The tables below present selected financial information of our reporting segments, the non-GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to GAAP financial measures, and the related reconciliations between the financial measures. Amounts are expressed in thousands of US dollars (“$”) except for number of shares & per share data.
Net cash used in investing activities amounted to US$3,255 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. This was primarily attributable to an increase in loans receivable of our credit business of US$3,355 million and purchase of property and equipment of US$351 million to support the existing operations, offset by net proceeds of US$508 million from securities purchased under agreements to resell, time deposits and liquid investment products. Net cash generated from financing activities amounted to US$618 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. This was primarily attributable to an increase in bank deposits of US$753 million as well as net proceeds from other funding sources related to credit business of US$122 million, offset by the cash used in repurchase of convertible notes of US$276 million.
UNAUDITED SEGMENT INFORMATION
The Company has three reportable segments, namely e-commerce, digital financial services and digital entertainment. The Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”), comprising our senior management team, evaluates each segment’s financial performance by reviewing revenue, significant operating expenses, and segment operating income or loss. To allocate resources for each segment, the CODM evaluates these results, along with certain key operating metrics of each segment. This assessment is done regularly by monitoring each segment’s actual financial and operating performance against projections as part of the Company’s business planning and budgeting process. Amounts are expressed in thousands of US dollars (“$”).
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