Sea Group’s org chart, Bukalapak’s CEO change demystified

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The new year is here, and we’re back to talk about all things ecommerce.

During the holidays, I had time to browse the Shopee app almost daily. In Vietnam – where I’m based – the influence of the shopping platform’s parent firm, Sea Group, is astonishing.

Shopee is so popular among local consumers that “find it on Shopee” has become a catchphrase. ShopeeFood, which is a rebrand of local food delivery player Now (bought by Sea Group in 2017 for US$64 million), is in a head-to-head battle with GrabFood. Similarly, Garena, Sea’s digital entertainment arm, has been among the top game developers and publishers in the country for about a decade.

The name Sea Group might not ring a bell with end consumers, many of whom are already part of its thriving ecosystem. But that’s not an issue. The company has been known for quietly making moves in different segments, conquering markets at a speed that puzzles everyone.

In 2009, the group’s co-founders – Forrest Li, Gang Ye, and David Chen – operated Garena out of a shophouse in Singapore. But besides the trio, who else is steering the wheels of the current Sea Group empire?

For this week’s The Big Story, we have diverged a bit from our usual approach. My colleague Budi Sutrisno maps out Sea Group’s key decision-makers in our org chart. How do they fit into the company’s ambitions, which evidently stretch far beyond Southeast Asia?

Meanwhile, Bukalapak, one of Shopee’s local rivals in Indonesia, has reshuffled its leadership team. Our reporter, Aditya Hadi Pratama, analyzes the implications of its CEO’s sudden resignation to join the government just months after the ecommerce firm debuted on the public market.

— Huong (Hanoi, Vietnam)

THE BIG STORY

Org Chart: The people helming Sea Group

Image credit: Timmy Loen

We look at the captains leading Sea Group as the firm makes major moves in digital banking and in markets like Latin America and Europe.

THE HOT TAKE

What’s behind the resignation of Bukalapak’s CEO?

Stability in question?

NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

FYI