Hey guy.get ready A hot and humid summer? It’s best to keep Paxlovid handy.
plain landscape
Earlier this month, when I was talking to Tobias Lütke, CEO and founder of Shopify, I was the first to tell him about an unfortunate headline that had just popped up: “Is Shopify the next WeWork?” Lütke named Tobi Talking to me about the massive rollout of a new feature for the platform, which gives merchants the tools to sell their wares digitally directly to customers. He built the company into a little-known e-commerce giant, powering more than 2 million online stores, from true mom-and-pop stores to Chipotle. You’re almost certainly using it unknowingly because of its subtle branding.Its growth finally broke the collective radar, and late last year, the CEO’s shiny dome full on the cover Bloomberg Businessweekcalling him the anti-Bezos.
But Shopify, 16, has been hit by supply chain shortages, a post-pandemic return to brick-and-mortar stores and a looming recession. Its stock plummeted, losing 73% of its value.even though Bloomberg The writer, my former colleague Brad Stone, had to take note of the irony and wondered if he cursed Lütke for his excessive attention. The timing of all of this is particularly awkward because Shopify is about to split its stock — 10 shares apiece. Companies typically don’t do this when prices plummet. Another corporate strategy that suddenly went awry was Lütke’s plan to change the company’s voting rights rules so that his control over the company was nearly impeccable.all this leads to street Asked this shocking question in the title, and of course I mentioned it to him in the chat.
“Oh gosh, I didn’t see that,” Lütke responded, his voice slightly German. (He moved to Canada in his early 20s, where the company worked until 2020, when he announced it would be virtual thereafter.) Pause. “Yeah, well, it’s funny,” he said finally, though he didn’t laugh.
But he’s fighting, and he’s eager to talk about new features Shopify is rolling out to make it more impactful in international commerce. Falling stock prices don’t reflect a company’s performance or prospects, he said. “We’ve repeatedly said internally that when a stock is up 50%, we’re not 50% smarter at that time. So when it’s down 50%, we’re not getting any dumber.” Presumably, even 73 A sharp drop in % is also not indicative of a lower IQ.
As for boosting his voting rights, Lükte said he had always intended to have a minority stake, and the current changes are due to technical reasons and partly to Canadian and U.S. rules. “It’s not actually my vote,” he said. “It’s a defense mechanism against a hostile takeover.” Not all shareholders were happy with the move, which passed with only a 54 percent majority. Lükte also pointed out that the new power was terminated by him and could not be passed on to his successor.
