Shopee, the group’s e-commerce arm, reports its most profitable quarter yet; adjusted Ebitda is up 44.7%
Shopee’s revenue rose 41.3% in Q3 to US$6.1 billion, mainly from growth in its gross merchandise value and better monetisation.
[SINGAPORE] Sea’s new cloud division will prioritize software and client relationships rather than investing in heavy data center earnings call on Tuesday (Nov 10).
“When customers need dedicated computing capacity, we will only pursue opportunities with clear customer returns and attractive returns,” he added.
The move into the cloud sector is driven by Sea’s internal expertise in artificial intelligence, which the company has cultivated over the past two years across its infrastructure, model, and agentic application layers, he noted.
Decline in token prices
He added that there is an opportunity to build a business around the decline in token prices and helping organisations with AI adoption.
This would entail running AI efficiently and adapting models to suit the data and language needs of prospective customers, and moving to newer cost-efficient models, including open models, without having to rebuild them afresh each time.
“We see this as an opportunity to turn our AI capabilities from a cost centre into a profit centre for Sea,” said Li.
The company’s cloud business is still in the formation stage, but he is optimistic about its prospects as the demand for AI from businesses grows.
As AI models improve and become more capable of making an impact in day-to-day uses – coupled with falling token costs – Sea is confident about the growth opportunity.
“We don’t know what we don’t know, but for each project, we’ll keep the financial discipline, we want to make sure that every project we work on generates attractive returns for us and minimises our potential financial risk if any,” said Li.
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Sea’s Q3 earnings numbers
For Q3 2026, Sea reported a 34 per cent increase in net income to US$502.5 million, from US$375 million in Q3 2025.
Total revenue for the third quarter of 2026 climbed 43.4 per cent to US$8.6 billion, up from US$6 billion during the same period last year. This growth was primarily fueled by the e-commerce division, Shopee, which achieved its most profitable quarter to date.
Li said: “Shopee delivered another strong quarter, again achieving new record highs in both top and bottom line metrics.”
Shopee’s revenue for Q3 2026 reached US$6.1 billion, a 41.3 per cent increase from the US$4.3 billion recorded in the previous corresponding period, driven largely by higher gross merchandise value (GMV) and improved monetization.
During the third quarter of 2026, Shopee’s GMV rose 23.3 per cent year-on-year to US$39.7 billion, while gross orders climbed 25.5 per cent to reach 4.5 billion.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 44.7 per cent compared to the previous year, totaling US$269.2 million.
Sea’s financial services unit, Monee, saw its revenue jump 63.9 per cent to US$1.6 billion, compared to US$989.9 million in Q3 2025.
Adjusted Ebitda for the financial services arm reached US$298.3 million for the quarter, representing a 15.5 per cent increase.
Li said: “We are reaching more users, deepening relationships with existing ones, and extending credit into more everyday spending scenarios, both on and off-Shopee.”
Monee’s performance was largely supported by its credit operations for consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As of September 30, total consumer and SME loans reached approximately US$12.6 billion, a 60 per cent year-on-year increase, comprising US$11.2 billion in on-book loans and US$1.3 billion in off-book loans.
The ratio of non-performing loans to total outstanding loans was 1.3 per cent in Q3 2026, marking a slight rise from the 1.1 per cent reported in the same period last year.
Furthermore, Li indicated that Monee could potentially pursue an initial public offering within the next three years, contingent upon market conditions, the broader macroeconomic climate, and regulatory requirements.
A standalone public listing would provide Monee with the dedicated capital necessary to expand its ecosystem and fund future growth, he explained.
The gaming division, Garena, reported bookings of US$890 million, reflecting a 5.9 per cent year-on-year increase. Revenue for the third quarter of 2026 was US$840.1 million, up 28.6 per cent from the US$653 million reported in Q3 2025.
Garena’s quarterly active user base was 671.7 million in Q3 2026, compared to 670.8 million in Q3 2025, with quarterly paying users rising 4.1 per cent to 68.6 million.
Under its US$1 billion share-repurchase initiative, Sea has bought back 11.1 million shares for approximately US$997.2 million. The board has since authorized an additional US$1 billion for the program, which carries no expiration date.
Li said: “Our strong momentum from the first half of the year has continued into the third quarter. We are pleased with this solid performance, and will continue to focus on executing our priorities with discipline.”
