Shopify helps customers build online shops, but it’s minting tech founders and investors, too
Last month, Jean-Michel Lemieux, the chief technology officer of Shopify, and the company’s chief talent officer, Brittany Forsyth, both announced that they are stepping down from their roles. Chief legal officer Joe Frasca is also set to step down, with all three ending their tenures next month. In their next chapters, all seem keen to advise, invest in or even launch startups, joining a growing number of former Shopify executives and employees to do the same.
For an enterprise of Shopify’s size the 15-year-old, 7,000-person, Ottawa-based outfit boasts a $130 billion market cap that’s not a surprise. Still, because of the vast wealth that Shopify has helped create, and its focus on sustainability among other things it invests $5 million per year in startups that fight climate change and publishes annual sustainability reports its former employees look to have an impact
Behind the Headlines is supported by Nelligan Law.
In this Behind the Headlines podcast episode, OBJ publisher Michael Curran speaks with OBJ editors David Sali and Peter Kovessy about some of the week’s biggest local business stories.
This is an edited transcript of the panel discussion. To hear the full interview, please watch the video above. Prefer an audio version of this podcast? Listen to it on SoundCloud or Spotify.
MC: Three of Shopify’s highest-ranking executives are leaving the Ottawa-based e-commerce giant. Chief talent officer Brittany Forsyth, chief legal officer Joe Frasca and chief technology officer Jean-Michel Lemieux are expected to end their lengthy tenures with the company in June. Peter, what’s the significance of this shakeup?
Ottawa e-commerce giant said net income soared to US$1.26 billion in the first three months of 2021, up from the US$31.4-million net loss it reported for the same period last year.
Shopify earnings: E-commerce boom fuels 110% revenue increase yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Consumer preferences have shifted permanently, said Finkelstein, in a call with analysts. The centre of gravity was off-line. It is now online and there s no going back to the pre-pandemic version of that.
The shift has been a boon for the Ottawa e-commerce giant, which helps businesses run online stores but has long had to contend with online purchases compromising less than 10 per cent of retail sales for years.
The pandemic with its temporary store closures and explosion of online offerings pushed the proportion of e-commerce sales in Canada to new records. In April 2020, it hit a record 11.4 per cent.