Last week I wrote about how Indonesian tech giant GoTo is inching toward profitability by, among other things, selling 75 percent of its e-commerce operation to TikTok and aggressively cutting costs. GoTo might even post a net profit this year, which would represent quite a turnaround from recent years where losses have gone into the 10 digits. And they are not alone. Regional competitors, like Grab, are also moving closer to profitability. Sea Limited, which owns e-commerce platform Shopee, actually became profitable for the first time in 2023.
How can we explain this shift in Southeast…
