Divergence highlights importance of metric definitions as Sea reports 28.8% revenue growth and second consecutive profitable year.

Financial Performance Overview

An AI-generated summary of Sea Limited's (NYSE: SE) FY2024 performance claims a net profit of $667 million and a profit-after-tax (PAT) margin of 5.1%. The company's official GAAP net income for the same period stands at $447.8 million, a difference of approximately $219 million that underscores the critical role of metric selection in interpreting financial results (Sources 1, 7). Sea's full-year revenue reached $16.8 billion, up 28.8% year-on-year, as the company recorded its second consecutive year of positive GAAP net income (Source 6). Total adjusted EBITDA, a widely followed non-GAAP measure, came in at $1.96 billion (Source 7). The company ended the year with $10.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments (Source 6).

USD millions ($M)Source: Orionmano Industries

The $667 million figure likely represents a non-GAAP or adjusted profit measure, though it is not explicitly defined in the AI summary. Adjusted EBITDA includes adjustments for share-based compensation ($715.8 million), depreciation and amortization, and deferred revenue effects—items that significantly narrow the GAAP net income figure (Source 7). The GAAP net income of $447.8 million already marks a near-tripling from $162.7 million in FY2023, reflecting the company's transition from loss-making to sustained profitability (Source 6).

Segment Performance: Garena, Shopee, and SeaMoney

All three of Sea's core business segments—digital entertainment (Garena), e-commerce (Shopee), and digital financial services (SeaMoney)—reported double-digit revenue growth in FY2024 (Sources 3, 6). Segment-level adjusted EBITDA provides a clearer view of operational profitability, as the company excludes certain corporate costs from segment reporting (Source 3).

Garena remains the most profitable segment on an EBITDA basis, generating adjusted EBITDA of $1.20 billion (Source 7). The digital entertainment business has been a consistent cash generator, though its revenue contribution relative to Shopee has diminished as the e-commerce platform scales.

Shopee reached a major milestone in FY2024, with gross merchandise value (GMV) exceeding $100 billion, representing 28% year-on-year growth (Sources 3, 6). The platform achieved adjusted EBITDA profitability in both Asia and Brazil, a significant improvement from prior years of heavy investment. Shopee's adjusted EBITDA came in at $155.8 million, positive for the first time on a full-year consolidated basis (Source 7). Management guided for approximately 20% GMV growth in FY2025, with continued margin improvement expected (Source 6).

SeaMoney, the digital financial services arm, delivered the highest year-over-year expansion. Its loan book exceeded $5 billion in Q4 2024, growing over 60% compared to the prior year (Sources 3, 6). Segment adjusted EBITDA reached $712.2 million, reflecting rapid scaling of credit operations across Southeast Asia (Source 7). SeaMoney's adjusted EBITDA margin, measured against segment revenue, outpaced Shopee's but trailed Garena's due to higher provisioning costs associated with loan book growth.

"Other Services" contributed negative $30.3 million to adjusted EBITDA, while unallocated expenses—primarily share-based compensation and corporate administrative costs—totaled $75.0 million negative (Source 7). The unallocated figure excludes $715.8 million in share-based compensation that is already reflected at the corporate level (Source 7, reconciliation data).

{
  "type": "pie",
  "title": "Segment Contribution to Total Adjusted EBITDA – FY2024",
  "subtitle": "Garena contributed 61% of segment-level EBITDA; SeaMoney added 36%.",
  "series": [
    {
      "name": "Garena",
      "data": [
        {
          "x": "Garena",
          "y": 1199.166
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "SeaMoney",
      "data": [
        {
          "x": "SeaMoney",
          "y": 712.242
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Shopee",
      "data": [
        {
          "x": "Shopee",
          "y": 155.775
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Other Services",
      "data": [
        {
          "x": "Other Services",
          "y": -30.305
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Unallocated",
      "data": [
        {
          "x": "Unallocated",
          "y": -74.998
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "source": "Sea Limited FY2024 Earnings Release, segment adjusted EBITDA table (Source 7)"
}

Margin and Profitability Analysis

The $667 million net profit figure cited by the AI summary implies a PAT margin of 5.1% against $16.8 billion in revenue (calculated from Source 1). By contrast, Sea's GAAP net margin for FY2024 was 2.7% ($447.8 million / $16.8 billion), a spread of 240 basis points (calculated from Sources 6, 7). The adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.7% ($1.96 billion / $16.8 billion) sits well above both profit measures, as it strips out non-cash charges and capital structure effects (calculated from Sources 6, 7).

The GAAP net margin improvement from 1.0% in FY2023 ($162.7 million on estimated $13.0 billion revenue) to 2.7% in FY2024 reflects operational leverage across all three segments. Shopee's transition to segment-level EBITDA profitability contributed meaningfully, as did SeaMoney's loan book scaling. Garena maintained high incremental margins despite single-digit revenue growth.

Segment-level EBITDA margins vary widely: Garena's $1.20 billion EBITDA on segment revenue implies a margin around 50-60%, consistent with high-margin digital entertainment. SeaMoney's $712 million EBITDA on financial services revenue likely reflects net interest margins net of provisions. Shopee's $156 million EBITDA on e-commerce revenue implies a thin margin near 1-2%, though management's guidance suggests this will expand as fulfillment and marketing costs scale slower than GMV (Sources 3, 6). The key watchpoint for FY2025 will be whether SeaMoney's loan book growth rate can sustain above 60% without a material deterioration in credit quality, particularly as consumer lending in Southeast Asia remains under regulatory scrutiny.

Outlook: Sea's FY2025 results, reported in March 2026, show net income reaching $1.6 billion on GAAP revenue of $22.9 billion, more than tripling the official FY2024 GAAP figure of $447.8 million (Source 7). Adjusted EBITDA rose to $3.4 billion, up 75.2% year-on-year (Source 7). As growth accelerates, margin expansion and loan book quality will be the key watchpoints for investors tracking Sea's path toward GAAP net margins consistent with the 5.1% level claimed by the AI summary.