Ecommerce firm Shopee tells sacked employees to pay for computers

Singapore-headquartered Shopee told Chinese media outlets the layoffs “affected less than 10 former colleagues and were part of normal resignation procedures”,
IANS reported.

In recent weeks, Southeast Asia’s largest ecommerce firm has cut jobs in various countries and shut down some overseas operations. Shopee’s parent Sea Ltd reported widening losses at $931 million in the second quarter, more than double the loss it made in the same period a year earlier. The company also scrapped its annual ecommerce forecast because of an “increasingly uncertain market environment”.

Shopee had earlier initiated mass layoffs in China, sacking 30-60% of workers in some departments. It has also
revoked a number of job offers for positions at its headquarters in Singapore, according to media reports.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Sea would lay off
3% of Shopee’s Indonesia staff across divisions.

Shopee shut its operations in India in March, just six months after entering the country. The decision was announced shortly after the union government banned its parent firm
Sea’s gaming app ‘Free Fire’ as part of its crackdown on apps linked to China.

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The company, however, said the decision to shut down its ecommerce business in India had nothing to do with the ban, and was due to “global market uncertainties”.