Shopify to reduce workforce by 20%, sells logistics business to Flexport for 13% equity

by Paul Sawers

Shopify revealed today that it's laying off 20% of its workforce, impacting more than 2,000 people, and is selling its logistics business to Flexport for roughly 13% in stock.

The news comes some 10 months after Shopify announced that it was reducing 10% of its workforce — roughly 1,000 people — and follows a trend that has seen many big technology companies engage in several rounds of redundancies in response to economic headwinds.

In a blog post today, Tobias Lütke refers to "main quests" and "side quests," the former being the company's core raison d'être which is what it's best known for — e-commerce software for online retailers. However, shipping and logistics always goes hand-in-hand with e-commerce, which is why Shopify has been building up that side of its business too.