Shopify lays off 10 per cent of its global workforce

Shopify is laying off 10 per cent of its global workforce, joining dozens of other tech and non-tech firms that are freezing hiring and cutting staff in the light of slowing growth.

The approximately 1,000 cuts will be across the board, but most of the cuts will affect jobs in recruiting, support. and sales. Duplicate, overspecialized, and roles described as “convenient to have but too far removed from building products” are also being cut. Staff who are being let go find out by Tuesday end of day.

“For a company like ours, this news will be difficult to digest,” Tobias Lütke, chief executive officer of Shopify, said in a memo to staff on Tuesday morning.

According to the memo, which was posted to the corporate website, the cuts are being made because Shopify mistakenly believed that the e-commerce bump fuelled by the pandemic would continue.

Shopify’s stock went down by 15 per cent to C$40.02 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the early minutes of trading Tuesday morning, Bloomberg reported. 

Two years ago, Shopify stock traded for about C$50 a share on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

E-mails will go out to staff to clarify whether they have been impacted by the job cuts, and those that are affected will then have a meeting with their lead manager.

Earlier this month, The Globe and Mail reported that Shopify would be cancelling internships and other job offers for people who were to begin working for the company this fall. The company employs more than 10,000 people globally.