Shopify to cut 20% of workforce, sell logistics business

Ottawa-based Shopify announced Thursday it was cutting its global workforce by 20 per cent and offloading its logistics business to Flexport in order to focus on its core e-commerce activities.

In a memo to its more than 11,000 staff, company founder and chief executive Tobias Lutke said: “We are changing the shape of Shopify significantly today to pay unshared attention to our mission.”

“This is a consequential and hard week,” he said. “It’s the right thing for Shopify, but it negatively affects many team members who we admire and love working with.”

Lutke, who launched the online platform in 2006, said the company should focus on its core mission of e-commerce.