Sea (931) Risk Analysis

Holders of ADSs are only able to exercise the voting rights with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Holders of ADSs may not have the same voting rights as the holders of our Class A ordinary shares and may not receive voting materials in time to be able to exercise the right to vote. Under the deposit agreement, holders of ADSs must vote by giving voting instructions to the depositary. If we ask for instructions from the holders of ADSs, upon receipt of voting instructions from the holders of ADSs, the depositary will try to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to ask for instructions from the holders of ADSs, the depositary may still vote in accordance with instructions given by the holders of ADSs, but it is not required to do so. Holders of ADSs are not able to directly exercise the right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares unless holders of ADSs withdraw their Class A ordinary shares from the depositary and become a registered holder of such shares. When a general meeting is convened, holders of ADSs may not receive sufficient advance notice to withdraw their Class A ordinary shares to allow them to vote with respect to any specific matter. If we ask for instructions from holders of ADSs, the depositary will notify holders of ADSs of the upcoming vote and will arrange to deliver our voting materials to holders of ADSs. We have agreed to give the depositary prior notice of shareholder meetings as far in advance of the meeting date as practicable. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you that holders of ADSs will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that holders of ADSs can instruct the depositary to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying their ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out voting instructions. This means that holders of ADSs may not be able to exercise the right to vote and may have no legal remedy if the Class A ordinary shares underlying our ADSs are not voted as they requested.

We adopted our 2009 Share Incentive Plan, last amended and restated in April 2022, or the 2009 Plan, for the purpose of granting share-based compensation awards to officers, employees, directors and other eligible persons to incentivize their performance and align their interests with ours. In April 2022, our board of directors approved the amendment and restatement of the 2009 Plan to increase the maximum aggregate number of shares available under the 2009 Plan, pursuant to which on January 1 of each of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, the maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares which may be issued under the 2009 Plan will increase by 3% of the total number of ordinary shares of all classes of the company outstanding on that day immediately before the increase. The current maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares which may be issued pursuant to all awards under the 2009 Plan is 193,718,406. We are authorized to grant options, share appreciation rights, share awards of restricted shares and non-restricted shares, restricted share units and other types of awards the administrator of the 2009 Plan decides. We account for compensation costs for all share options using a fair-value based method and recognize expenses in our consolidated statements of operations in accordance with U.S. GAAP. As of March 15, 2023, outstanding awards granted under the 2009 Plan consisted of (i) options to purchase 69,873,363 Class A ordinary shares, (ii) 11,827,347 restricted Class A ordinary share units, and (iii) 211,701 share appreciation rights. As a result of our grants of awards under the 2009 Plan, we incurred share-based compensation expense of US$290.2 million, US$470.3 million and US$705.9 million in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. For more information on our share incentive plan, see "Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees-B. Compensation-Share Incentive Plan." We will incur additional share-based compensation expenses in the future as we continue to grant share-based incentives. We believe the granting of share-based compensation is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based compensation to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may remain significant or increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, the depositary will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our Class A ordinary shares underlying our ADSs at shareholders' meetings if holders of ADSs do not give voting instructions to the depositary, unless: - we have failed to timely provide the depositary with our notice of meeting and related voting materials;- we have instructed the depositary that we do not wish a discretionary proxy to be given;- we have informed the depositary that there is substantial opposition as to a matter to be voted on at the meeting; or - a matter to be voted on at the meeting would have a material adverse impact on shareholders. The effect of this discretionary proxy is that, if holders of ADSs fail to give voting instructions to the depositary, they cannot prevent our Class A ordinary shares underlying our ADSs from being voted, absent the situations described above, and it may make it more difficult for holders of our ADSs to influence our management.

We have adopted a dual-class voting structure such that our ordinary shares consist of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares since our IPO. On February 14, 2022, our shareholders approved the amendment and restatement of our memorandum and articles of association at our annual general meeting. Upon the effectiveness of such amendment, the voting power of our Class B ordinary shares increased from three votes per share to 15 votes per share on all matters subject to vote at general meetings of our company and Forrest Xiaodong Li, our founder, chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, is the sole beneficial owner of all our Class B ordinary shares. The voting power of our Class A ordinary shares of one vote per share remains unchanged. Due to the different voting powers associated with our two classes of ordinary shares, as of March 15, 2023, our founder beneficially owns an aggregate of approximately 59.9% of the total voting power of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. As a result, our founder has substantial influence over our business, including significant corporate actions including mergers, consolidations, and election of directors. As a board member and officer, Mr. Li owes a fiduciary duty to our company and must act in good faith in a manner he reasonably believes to be in the best interests of our company. As a shareholder, even a controlling shareholder, Mr. Li is entitled to vote his shares in his own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our shareholders generally. Certain actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders. This concentrated control could discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company, which could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of our ADSs. It could also discourage a potential investor from acquiring our ADSs represented by our Class A ordinary shares, which has less voting power compared with our Class B ordinary shares, and may harm the trading price of our ADSs. In the event of his death, the Class B ordinary shares beneficially owned by Mr. Li will be automatically converted into an equal number of Class A ordinary shares.

The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, including the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other companies with business operations located mainly in the same markets as us that have listed their securities in the United States. The stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many technology companies. In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for the ADSs may be highly volatile for factors specific to our own operations, including the following: - variations in our quarterly or annual revenue, earnings and cash flow;- guidance or other projections we may provide to the public, including any changes or failure to meet any guidance or other projections;- announcements of new investments, acquisitions, strategic partnerships or joint ventures by us or our competitors;- announcements of new content and services or plans of expansion or exits by us or our competitors;- changes in financial estimates by securities analysts and data providers, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;- downgrades by industry or securities analysts that publish research or reports on us;- detrimental adverse publicity about us, our businesses or our industries or investor sentiment with respect to our competitors, our shareholders and investors, and our industry in general;- additions or departures of key personnel;- release of lock-up or other transfer restrictions on our outstanding equity securities or sales of additional equity securities, including the perception that these sales could occur;- dilution of the ownership interests of our ADS holders due to conversions of our 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 convertible notes, which we may choose to settle by issuing ADSs, or from the unwinding of capped call transactions in connection with our 2024 and 2025 convertible notes;- current or potential litigation, government actions or regulatory investigations, including class actions;- volatility in the stock market, including price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market, changing trends in the economy, interest rate hikes or other interest rate-related decisions; and - general political, economic, or market conditions, or other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism, pandemics, and other disruptive external events, or responses to these events. Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which the ADSs will trade. Shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against those companies following periods of volatility or decline in the market price of their securities. Sea Limited is currently a defendant in a putative securities class action. See "Item 8. Financial Information-A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information-Legal and Administrative Proceedings." Involvement in a securities class action lawsuit could divert a significant amount of our management's attention and other resources from our business and operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit, which could harm our results of operations. Any such class action suit, whether or not meritorious, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully established against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. As we operate globally, we may receive an increasing degree of media coverage. We have been the subject of media coverage involving concerns around our markets, our products or services and business developments and our efficiency initiatives, and we continue to receive publicity relating to these concerns among others. Any publicity that is unfavorable or perceived to be unfavorable may affect our business, brand and reputation. For example, such publicity could have an adverse effect on the size, engagement, and loyalty of our user base as well as result in increased scrutiny of our business, including our business practices and policies. Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales or issuances of our ADSs, Class A ordinary shares or other equity securities could cause the price of our ADSs to decline significantly. As of March 15, 2023, the aggregate principal amount outstanding of our 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 convertible notes was approximately US$31.3 million, US$152.0 million, US$1.1 billion and US$2.1 billion, respectively. The holders of our 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 convertible notes may convert their convertible notes in accordance with the instruments governing such convertible notes at the initial conversion rate of 50.5165 ADSs, 19.9475 ADSs, 11.0549 ADSs and 2.0964 ADSs per US$1,000 principal amount, respectively. Our 2023 convertible notes are currently convertible until prior to the close of business on the second scheduled trading day immediately preceding July 1, 2023, which is the maturity date of these convertible notes. In addition, for the current quarter, being April to June 2023, our 2024 convertible notes are currently convertible in accordance with their terms. To the extent our convertible notes are convertible in a given period and converted and we issue ADSs to settle our obligations, the ownership interest of our ADS holders will be further diluted.

There have been and remain tensions surrounding the Taiwan Strait. Such tensions may affect the economic and social activities in Taiwan, which may in turn affect our businesses and operations in Taiwan. There has historically been imposed prohibitions and restrictions on investments, directly and indirectly, by PRC investors in Taiwan. "PRC investors" refer to PRC individuals, juristic persons, organizations and other institutions, and PRC invested companies from other jurisdictions. "PRC invested companies from other jurisdictions" refer to those entities incorporated outside of the PRC and invested by PRC individuals, juristic persons, organizations and other institutions that: (i) directly or indirectly hold more than 30% of the shares or capital of such entities (each intermediate holding company shall be separately assessed based on this 30% test to determine whether it is deemed a PRC invested company from other jurisdictions), or (ii) have the ability to control such entities. Under the current policies on PRC investments in Taiwan, PRC investors are allowed to invest, upon prior approval, in Taiwan companies that operate business in the statutory business categories listed as permitted in the Positive Listings promulgated by the Taiwan authorities, and are prohibited or restricted from investing in all other businesses. In addition, if a PRC investor is a juristic person, organization, or other institution invested by (a) the "political party," military, administrative or political agency of PRC, or (b) PRC invested companies from other jurisdictions (defined in "Item 4. Information on the Company-B. Business Overview-Regulation-Taiwan-Regulations on Foreign Investment") invested by the agency listed in item (a) above, the Taiwan authorities may restrict or prohibit such PRC investor from investing in businesses in Taiwan. Under Taiwan company law, a Taiwan company is required to select from a statutory list of business categories for inclusion in its corporate registration based on various aspects of its business operations. Some of the statutory categories currently listed in the corporate registration of our Taiwan operating entities include computer recreational activities, software publication, third-party payments, general advertising services and sales of certain medical or cosmetics related goods that are not within the Positive Listings. The other statutory business categories currently listed in the business scope of the corporate registration of our Taiwan operating entities are within the Positive Listings, including the data processing services listed in the corporate registration of our e-commerce and digital entertainment business entities, and the software design services currently listed in the corporate registration of our digital entertainment business entity. We do not believe, based on advice from our Taiwan counsel, LCS & Partners, that we are a PRC investor under existing Taiwan law and court judgments. Therefore, we do not believe that we are prohibited from operating businesses that have statutory business categories not listed as permitted in the Positive Listings or that we need to seek prior PRC investment approval for operating businesses that have statutory business categories listed as permitted in the Positive Listings. We currently operate our e-commerce and digital entertainment businesses in Taiwan through our wholly-owned branch offices in Taiwan. Both of such entities were acquired or established upon approval by the relevant Taiwan government authorities. However, should the Taiwan authorities deem us to be a PRC investor, the Taiwan authorities may take a range of actions, including: - imposing fines between NT$120,000 (US$3,905) to NT$25,000,000 (US$813,537) and further fines if the non-compliance is not rectified as ordered;- ordering us to reduce any direct or indirect ownership or control by PRC investors in our company;- requesting us to divest some or all of our ownership or control in our operating entities in Taiwan;- suspending the rights of shareholders of our Taiwan operating entities; and - discontinuing the operations and revoking the business licenses of our Taiwan operating entities. If any such action is taken, our operations in Taiwan and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States. Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records (save for the memorandum and articles of association, register of mortgages and charges, and special resolutions of shareholders) or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for holders of ADSs to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, differ significantly from requirements for companies incorporated in other jurisdictions such as the United States. To the extent we choose to follow home country practice with respect to corporate governance matters, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would under rules and regulations applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.