Early Life
Forrest Li Xiaodong was born in Tianjin, China, in 1977. He earned a Bachelor's degree in engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. After working in China, Li pursued an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was inspired by Steve Jobs' commencement speech to become a startup founder. He met his wife, Ma Liqian, at Stanford.
Rise to Success
After graduating from Stanford, Li moved to Singapore and founded Garena in 2009, a digital entertainment company. Initially focused on online gaming, Garena secured the publishing rights for League of Legends in Southeast Asia. Under Li's leadership, Garena expanded to include e-commerce and digital financial services. In 2015, Garena launched Shopee, an e-commerce platform that became a leading online shopping provider in Southeast Asia. In 2017, Garena rebranded to Sea Limited. Sea Limited was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2017. Sea has also expanded into digital banking services.
Key Business Strategies
Li's key strategies included diversifying Sea's business from gaming to e-commerce and digital financial services. His focus on the Southeast Asian market, and adapting to the specific needs of consumers in the region, contributed to Shopee's success. Sea's strategy also involved securing strategic investments and acquisitions.
Philanthropy
In 2021, Sea Limited gave a $50 million gift to the National University of Singapore's School of Computing.
