Meet Forrest Li, the Owner of Garena and the Free Fire Game

Article Summary

Forrest Li is the founder and owner Sea Limited as well as Garena, the company behind the game Free Fire.
Garena develop into Sea Limited, launch Shopee and Sea Money, rebranding after major funding and share increase in 2019.
Forrest Li acquire Lion City Sailors, built a USD10 million training facility, and was elected president of the Football Association of Singapore.

Meet Forrest Li, the Owner of Garena and the Free Fire Game

Name Garena It must be familiar, especially for game players. Free Fire. However, do you know who owns the Garena company?

Garena itself is a leading game developer and publisher with a global reach of more than 160 markets worldwide.

This company is part of Sea Limited, a Singapore-based holding company that also oversees Shopee and Sea Money.

So, this time we'll learn more about Forrest Li, a billionaire and owner of Garena. Curious about the man behind Free Fire's success? Read this article to the end!

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Get to Know Forrest Li, the Owner of Garena

Garena Owner - Forrest Li — Forrest Li. Source: Norges Bank Investment Management/Youtube

Forrest Li is the founder and owner of Sea Limited, a Singapore-based holding company that owns several other major companies, including Garena.

Founded in 2009, Garena has successfully released various popular games that have many fans from all over the world, one of which is Free Fire.

Forrest Li himself was born in Tianjin, China in 1977. He earned his bachelor's degree in engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University.

After graduating, he worked at Motorola Solutions and Corning before returning to pursue an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

When Forrest Li saw Steve Jobs give the “Stay hungry, stay foolish” speech, he was inspired to become a startup founder.

Forrest Li then moved to Singapore after graduating with limited finances and a student loan debt of $100,000.

Together with his wife, whom he met at Stanford, he rented a small room in the Braddell housing complex. Amidst these limitations, Forrest Li then began building his company, Sea Limited.

Forrest Li's Career Journey and the Founding of Garena

Garena Office. Source: Yellow Bees/Youtube

Forrest Li originally founded Sea in 2009, initially as a digital entertainment company under the name Garena.

At that time, the owner of Garena ran the company's operations from a shophouse on Maxwell Road, Tanjong Pagar.

The company initially focused on game publishing. Several years later, it expanded into several subsidiaries operating in e-commerce and digital financial services.

Garena launched Shopee in 2015 and it quickly became one of the leading online shopping services in Southeast Asia.

Shortly after, Garena launched a new company called Monee (formerly SeaMoney). This company provides digital financial services including payments and loans.

After successfully raising US$1.9 billion in 2017, Garena finally rebranded the company as Sea Ltd, while still using the Garena name in their digital entertainment sector.

In March 2019, the share price of his company (Sea Limited) surged by US$451 billion. This gave Forrest Li an estimated net worth of over US$1 billion.

Forrest Li and His Career in the World of Football

Forrest Li in Lion City Sailors — Video of Forrest Li's opening speech. Source: Lion City Sailors/Youtube

The owner of Garena is a football fan who also holds the position of chairman of the Lion City Sailors.

Lion City Sailors itself is a Singapore Premier League football club that was acquired by Sea Limited in 2020. The acquisition price of this club was never disclosed.

Forrest Li said his aim in acquiring the club was to elevate local football and create a world-class training environment for young people in Singapore.

In 2022, Lion City Sailors FC finally inaugurated a 28,000 square meter environmental training facility in Singapore worth US$10 million.

Forrest Li was then elected unopposed as president of the Football Association of Singapore in 2015.

He stated his priority was to expand development pathways for local players and bring back a sense of pride and joy to Singapore football.

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So, that's a brief biography of Forest Li, the owner of Garena and Free Fire, and his career journey. Hopefully, this information has broadened your understanding of the person and company behind Garena.

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