Read the memo Singapore billionaire Forrest Li sent to employees of Shopee, the...

• A 1,000-word internal staff memo outlines Shopee's 12-18-month plan to achieve self-sufficiency.

• The company's executive team will temporarily forgo cash compensation, per the memo.

• Once the darling of the investment community, Sea does not anticipate being able to raise funds now.

Shopee, the Singapore-based ecommerce giant and one-time investment-community darling, is facing bleak fundraising prospects in the current volatile market — and it appears to be bracing for the worst.

In a 1,000-word memo sent to Shopee employees on September 15, Forrest Li — the billionaire founder, chairman, and CEO of Shopee — outlined drastic cost-cutting measures the company will be taking.

"Our number one objective for the next 12-18 months is achieving self-sufficiency," Li wrote in the memo. The company will be restricting employee expenses, capping all flights at the economy level, and executives will temporarily forgo compensation, Li wrote in the memo.

Shopee parent Sea Limited has lost around $170 billion of market value since an October 2021 high, per Bloomberg.  This is in sharp contrast to Sea being able to secure $6 billion through an equity and convertible bond sale in September 2021, which at the time was Southeast Asia's largest fundraising round.

The layoffs will affect a low single-digit percentage of employees, a source close to the matter told Insider. The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject. The company employed more than 67,000 people at the end of 2021, per Bloomberg. Shopee was founded in 2015 in seven markets across Southeast Asia and has since expanded operations into 13 markets total.

A company spokesperson told Insider the changes are "part of our ongoing efforts to optimise operating efficiency with the goal of achieving self-sufficiency across our business."

Below, read the full text of the memo Li sent to employees.

"Dear Sailors,

We have made some difficult announcements lately. I know many of you would have seen negative reports about us in the media, and you may have been shaken by news of us shutting down operations in some markets. I am writing to you today to explain what is happening, and also talk about what we need to do in the next 12-18 months.