Shopify to reduce workforce by up to 20% and sell logistics business

Shopify Inc. says it will reduce its workforce by about 20 percent and sell its logistics business to supply chain management company Flexport.

The Ottawa-based e-commerce company took the move as a way to help it focus on its core quest to make commerce easier.

in one open letterChief Executive Officer Tobi Lutke didn’t say how many employees would be leaving the company, but before Shopify laid off about 1,000 last summer, it had about 10,000 employees.

Twenty percent of the remaining workforce will be about 1,800 people.

Lutke says the company also decided to sell Shopify Logistics to Flexport to help the business become more ambitious and global in nature.

Under the terms of the agreement, Shopify will receive stock representing a 13 percent stake in Flexport and the ability to name a director on Flexport’s board.