Forrest Li, Chairman and Chief Executive officer of Sea Ltd recently lost a huge chunk of his fortune. Li lost about $10 billion of his fortune since the American depositary receipts of the company peaked on October 19, 2021.
However, when Tencent Holdings Ltd. cut its stake to 18.7% from 21.3%, with its voting rights decreasing to under 10% in the gaming and e-commerce company, Sea’s stocks went down, driving the stock to its worst slump in almost two years.
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The billionaire became the richest person in Singapore last year after his company benefitted from the Covid-19 pandemic as there was a surge in demand for gaming and online shopping, but things turned sour as Sea Ltd. faced profitability concerns amid fierce competition and rivals’ public debuts. Even before Tencent’s move, its ADRs had dropped 39% from the high in October.
Sea Ltd., based in Singapore and traded in the US, became Southeast Asia’s most valuable company after the success of its e-commerce platform, Shopee and mobile game, Free Fire, which has surpassed 1 billion downloads on Google Play. Gang Ye and David Chen, who started the company with Li in 2009, have fortunes valued at about $6 billion and $2 billion, respectively.
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Now the billionaire is worth $11 billion, with his wealth plunging by more than $2 billion in the past two days alone. He is now Singapore’s third-richest person, following behind Li Xiting of medical-equipment maker Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co. and Nippon Paint Holdings Co.’s Goh Cheng Liang.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, billionaires who have lost more wealth than Li include Colin Huang of e-commerce platform Pinduoduo Inc. and Amancio Ortega, the founder of the Zara clothing brand.
