Do we like them?

Do we like Shopify?

E-commerce platform that lets merchants run online shops and take payments; based in Ottawa, Canada.

Our score: 6 out of 10. A useful platform with real climate spending. Against that: a privacy suit, an antitrust suit, steady job cuts, and a CEO who has drawn political criticism. We'd back it, but not wholeheartedly.

Shopify is an Ottawa-based commerce platform that helps merchants sell online. Tobi Lütke has been CEO since 2006 and joined in 2004. He holds about 38% of the votes, according to the company's regulatory filing.

The climate side is a real strength. Since 2019 its Sustainability Fund has put money into carbon removal firms, and it co-founded the Frontier buying commitment. CDR.fyi says it has signed over $100 million in contracts. The fund deliberately overpays to get new technology off the ground.

Staff are less happy. Shopify cut about 3,000 jobs in 2022 and 2023. Lütke's 2025 memo told teams to show AI can't do a job before asking for headcount. The Logic reported that smaller layoffs since then left staff exhausted and afraid.

There are legal clouds. A California class action accuses Shopify of putting tracking cookies on shoppers' phones and selling profiles, and it was revived by a US court. Sezzle also accuses it of favouring its own buy-now-pay-later service. Shopify disputes the claims, and neither case has been decided.

In July 2026 Lütke drew criticism, reported by CBC, for backing a post that proposed weighting votes by income tax paid. That's his personal view, but he is the boss. We land at a middling-to-decent 6.