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☆ Exclusive: AppHub, a Shopify app acquirer, raises $95 million to build and buy apps as the developer ecosystem matures
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AppHub builds and acquires apps that are geared towards e-commerce merchants. AppHub, an e-commerce enablement platform launched in 2021, has raised $95 million from growth-equity firm PSG to continue building up its portfolio of apps as changes come to Shopify's app ecosystem. More than 150,000 merchants are now using AppHub apps, CEO and cofounder Kris Eng told Insider. Deciding whether to build or acquireAppHub decides whether to acquire an app or build a solution of its own on a case-by-case basis. The new funding from PSG will allow AppHub to continue to invest in its existing portfolio and look for other apps to acquire.

Persons: AppHub, Kris Eng, Eng, Tobi Lütke, Harley Finkelstein, AppHub Shopify, they've, Matt Tennenhouse, Tennenhouse, we'll, Matt Stone Organizations: PSG, Capital Partners

☆ Hurdles world record holder Amusan charged with 'whereabouts' violation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 19 (Reuters) - Tobi Amusan, the 100m hurdles world record holder, said on Wednesday she has been charged with missing three doping tests but has denied taking performance enhancing substances and expects to be cleared to compete at the world championships. Under World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, the applicable sanction for three 'whereabouts' failures is two years' ineligibility, subject to a reduction to a minimum of one year depending on an athlete's degree of fault. She became the first Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event with her 2022 victory in Eugene, Ore., where she set the world record of 12.12 seconds. Amusan was part of Nigeria's 4x100 relay squad that won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games but were then stripped of their medal after anchor runner Grace Nwokocha failed a doping test. The World Athletics Championships run from Aug. 19-27 in Budapest.

Persons: Amusan, Grace Nwokocha, Lori Ewing, Peter Rutherford Organizations: Athletics, Silesia Diamond League, Diamond League, Thomson Locations: Nigerian, Eugene ,, Budapest

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Nvidia, Carvana, Disney, Amazon and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Alphabet — The Google-parent company added 4.4% after launching its large-language model, Bard AI, in Brazil and the European Union. Cirrus Logic — The chipmaker fell more than 3% in midday trading after Cirrus announced in an 8K filing plans to slash 5% of its workforce. Nvidia invested $50 million into Recursion to help drive AI-based drug discovery, the company said Wednesday. Progressive — Shares of the insurance company fell about 11% after Progressive reported results for June and the full second quarter.

Persons: Bard, Bob Iger's, Carvana, SoFi, Morgan Stanley, Tobi Lutki, —, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Jesse Pound, Michelle Fox, Alex Harring Organizations: Google, European Union, Cirrus, Nvidia, Disney —, Bank of America, Disney, JPMorgan, Viasat – Viasat, Viasat, Amazon, Progressive Locations: Brazil, Americas

☆ Read the memo Shopify sent employees explaining its meeting cost calculator: 'Your calendar is a strategy.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Your calendar is a strategy, and the Meeting Cost Calculator helps you make informed decisions for organizing or accepting meetings. He said that employees could reference a page in Shopify's internal "vault" for more information about the meeting cost calculator. The Meeting Cost Calculator is here to challenge the status quo, nudging us to reconsider meeting necessity and explore more creative collaboration methods. The meeting cost calculator is the latest in a series of experiments Shopify has launched to maximize time and efficiency in its workplace this year. Your calendar is a strategy, and the Meeting Cost Calculator helps you make informed decisions for organizing or accepting meetings.

Persons: Shopify, Kaz Nejatian, Mark Zuckerberg, Tobi Lütke

☆ Shopify gets ruthless on calendar invites by posting the price of employees' time, with a 30-minute meeting 'costing' up to $2,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Shopify is trying to discourage useless meetings with a tool that estimates the cost of employees' time. The calendar tool calculates meeting costs based on employee pay data, meeting duration, and attendees. The strategy is part of Shopify's push to purge thousands of unnecessary meetings. Shopify has introduced a new tool to help employees find out — and encourage them to cut back on non-crucial meetings. "No one at Shopify would expense a $500 dinner," Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian, who built the program, told Bloomberg.

Persons: Shopify, Kaz Nejatian, Tobi Lütke, Nejatian Organizations: Service, Bloomberg Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Shopify to launch AI assistant for merchants
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 12 (Reuters) - Canadian ecommerce firm Shopify said on Wednesday it would soon launch an artificial intelligence assistant for merchants on its platform, the latest technology company to roll out such a feature. The assistant called "Sidekick" would be embedded as a button on Shopify and answer merchant queries, including details about sales trends, CEO Tobi Lutke illustrated in a video posted on Twitter. Companies such as Alibaba Group Holding , Zoom Video Communications (ZM.O) and Databricks have all launched AI assistants in the last few months following the massive jump in the use of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT. The assistant can also help entrepreneurs update their stores on Shopify. The feature is "coming soon", the video showed, without specifying the date when it would be rolled out.

Persons: Shopify, Tobi Lutke, Chavi Mehta, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Twitter, Companies, Alibaba, Video Communications, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Shopify's midlife crisis: How a surprise pivot away from logistics capped the e-commerce giant's whirlwind year
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

But Shopify's logistics acquisitions, which came with around 550 more staff altogether, started to look like dead weight after the shine of the initial announcements wore off. By the beginning of 2023, the attitude toward logistics inside Shopify had shifted to palpable frustration, four people who worked for Shopify's logistics division said. Lance McMillan/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesIndependent of logistics, Shopify saw massive cultural shifts in the past several years. One core tenet of Shopify's work culture is "default to open," meaning it values transparency and sharing information with employees. The letter referred to Shopify's logistics work of the past four years as a "side quest" that distracted the company from its "main quest."

Persons: Shopify, it's, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Lance McMillan, crafters, Tobias Lütke, Slack, —, Lütke, Shopify's, I've, Toby Shannan, Morgan Stanley, Jeff Hoffmeister, Bobby Morrison, Allan Leinwand, Kaz Nejatian, Nejatian, Madeline Stone, Emma Cosgrove Organizations: Employees, Amazon, Systems, Kiva Systems, Toronto Star, Getty, miscalculating, Facebook, ecosgrove Locations: Shopify, Ottawa , Ontario, —, Silicon

☆ Shopify asks its customer-support staff to test new AI tools weeks after laying off thousands of employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shopify is asking some of its customer-support team members to test a translation bot powered by OpenAI's technology, weeks after a round of layoffs in May. This move is the latest in a series of AI experiments in the support division, which troubleshoots issues for Shopify's millions of merchants. The bot can recommend products sold by Shopify merchants based on shoppers' answers to a series of questions. It also recently launched a tool called Shopify Magic, which uses generative AI to write product descriptions. Shopify's support team underwent several changes this year.

Persons: Shopify, Jen Bebb, Shopify's, Harley Finkelstein, Tobi Lütke, Clovis Locations: Shopify

☆ 10 things in tech: Epstein appeared to threaten Gates, Apple gets its AI cut, and a Twitter hotel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Cupertino-based tech giant is taking its usual 30% cut from users signing up to ChatGPT Plus through the app, according to a note from Bernstein analysts. A spokesperson for Gates told the WSJ that Epstein had "tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship" to threaten the tech billionaire. Microsoft's marketing chief told staffers to bump the stock prices for raises. The tech giant has already managed to outpace the market with shares up 33% so far this year. The tech giant just launched two new Pixel phones.

☆ Shopify is reopening its offices for in-person work for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopify will open some of its offices for daily work beginning this summer. Shopify plans to allow its employees to come into its offices to work several days a month, CEO Tobi Lütke told workers at an internal town hall earlier in May. "Shopify continues to value in-person time to build trust and create connections outside of dedicated team events," a Shopify spokesperson said. The company refers to its dedication to remote work as "digital by design." Most recently, Amazon began requiring employees to work in its offices at least three days a week starting this month.

☆ Israel's Bezeq Telecom sees benefits from AI as posts flat Q1 profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, May 17 (Reuters) - Bezeq Israel Telecom (BEZQ.TA) reported flat quarterly profit on Wednesday, and said it expects to reap benefits from an exponential expansion of data created by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms through more lucrative fibre optics growth. Bezeq is working with Nokia to provide broadband speeds of up to 25 gigabits per second (Gbps) and said it plans to offer 10 Gbps in 2024, reaching 25 Gbps by 2027. It currently offers a maximum of 2.5 Gbps. Fischbein also said that he remained comfortable with Bezeq's forecast of 1.2 billion shekels of net profit in 2023. Shares of Bezeq were up 0.3% to 5 shekels in afternoon Tel Aviv trading, but are nearly 18% lower so far in 2023.

☆ Why CEOs are changing directions faster than ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

CEOs are changing their corporate strategies more frequently for many reasons. Some CEOs didn't do the necessary medium- and long-term planning when they made their original decisions, and now they're being forced to backtrack. A new, lightning-fast pace of businessThe rapidly changing business environment makes one thing clear: For CEOs, the day-to-day marathon of running a company feels much more like a sprint. The average compensation in 2021 for CEOs of the top US companies was 399 times that of the average worker. Changing a strategy is one thing, but how a CEO communicates that change is another — particularly because these pivots are likely to happen more frequently.

☆ Shopify's president on why he prefers paying micro-influencers to grow his own side hustle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But Finklestein also had another side business on his mind last week in an interview that had been pre-taped for CNBC's Small Business Playbook event, the loose-leaf tea side hustle, Firebelly Tea, that he co-founded as an independent entrepreneur. Finkelstein said it will be cheaper and also likely a more effective way to grow a new business. The creator economy is changing the way business success is generated, Finkelstein said, with the old "Field of Dreams" model — "If you build, it, they will come" — no longer enough. But that does not mean every small business owner with a great product should be chasing MrBeast or Emma Chamberlain for product endorsements. He cited the TikTok hashtag "TikTok Made Me Buy It" which has 50 billion impressions.

☆ Shopify cuts 20% of its workforce; shares surge on earnings beat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shopify on Thursday announced it's cutting 20% of its workforce. The news came as it reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines. CEO Tobi Lütke announced the job cuts in a memo to employees posted to the company's website. The cuts mark the second round of layoffs for the Canadian e-commerce company. The company reported revenue of $1.51 billion, which exceeded projections of $1.43 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Shopify announced Thursday that it is cutting 20% of staff and selling off its logistics business. Shopify's CEO Tobi Lütke announced early Thursday that the company is cutting 20% of its workforce and selling the majority of its logistics business to supply chain technology company Flexport. It's the right thing for Shopify but it negatively affects many team members who we admire and love working with. Analysts and insiders had also been expecting a major change to Shopify's logistics division, Insider reported Wednesday. But 6 River Systems, a warehouse automation and robotics company Shopify purchased in 2019 for $450 million, is being sold to UK grocery firm Ocado for an undisclosed sum.

☆ Shopify tried to challenge Amazon in logistics. It never came within 100 miles. Was it all a waste?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Shopify is selling most of its logistics business to freight unicorn Flexport in an all stock deal. Though Shopify's logistics journey began in 2019 as Shopify Fulfillment Network, the current iteration is less than a year old, and investors had become wary of the level of investment that getting the outfit into competitive shape would take. The acquisition was previously considered key to Shopify's fulfillment ambitions, and its team has been involved in the company's efforts to develop fulfillment software. Derek Lossing, an Amazon Logistics alum-turned investment advisor with Cirrus Global Advisors, said an acquisition-driven strategy may have been the right course — especially when the alternative involved contracting with legacy logistics players, which can take months. To some, the question of whether Shopify's layover into logistics was a waste of talent, time, and resources, can't be answered until Flexport takes hold and Clark flexes the muscles he gained building Amazon Logistics.

☆ Shopify president says he has never 'felt more sure about the future of this company' in leaked internal audio shared after company conducts layoffs and sells its logistics business
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In a two-minute video shared with Shopify employees Thursday morning, company president Harley Finkelstein reiterated his belief that the e-commerce firm is well-positioned for the future. In his video message to employees, Finkelstein said that difficult times are what define "the character of a company." "Making a series of popular decisions makes a popular company," he said. 6 River Systems, a warehouse automation and robotics company Shopify purchased in 2019 for $450 million, is being sold to the UK grocery firm Ocado for an undisclosed sum. Making a series of popular decisions makes a popular company.

☆ Leaked document shows Shopify's plan to use 'stealth spear-fishing' recruiting tactics as it flattens its org
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A leaked internal document detailed Shopify's plan to overhaul its recruiting strategy. It said that recruiters needed to raise the bar for the quality of candidates they were bringing on to the company. "To do this, we will exhaustively seek out world class talent, scorching the earth with thoroughness and precision," it continued. The leaked internal document from Shopify cited a January conversation with CEO Tobi Lütke where he emphasized the need to hire fewer people managers and more people who had deep technical knowledge. It also said that Lütke instructed org leaders to "avoid high drama negative talent."

Approximately 0.5% of Etsy's active sellers -or around 2,700 merchants- had their payments delayed on Friday related to SVB's collapse, according to Etsy. The payments Etsy sellers received is unrelated to the Federal Reserve's Sunday announcement, which ensured that SVB's customers would have access to their funds on Monday. Shopify has temporarily paused payments to its merchants who receive payments to SVB accounts. These online sellers must update their bank accounts that have no connections with SVB to resume getting payments. Switching bank accounts can pose a problem for sellers whose sole business account was with SVB.

☆ Blame the CEO for Tech Layoffs at Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Ed Zitron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

CEOs made mistakes, workers bear the bruntIn their layoff announcements, pretty much every tech company placed the blame for the cuts on the economy. While they may protect the CEO's reputation or placate investors, layoffs are immensely damaging for workers, even well-paid tech employees. With great power comes no responsibilityThe blame-shifting of these tech companies and their CEOs is not unprecedented, or even that uncommon. CEO pay skyrocketed by 1,460% from 1978 to 2021, and the ratio of average-worker pay to CEO pay ballooned from 20-to-1 in 1965 to 399-to-1 in 2021. Instead, tech CEOs have passed the pain off to people who in many cases were performing well in their roles.

☆ In leaked memo, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke announces CTO departure and other engineering shakeups
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shopify CTO Allan Leinwand is leaving the company, CEO Tobi Lütke announced on Friday. Shopify CTO Allan Leinwand is set to depart the Canadian e-commerce company after 15 months in the role. In addition to his job as CEO, Lütke has also performed the tasks of chief product officer since Craig Miller departed Shopify in September 2020. Today Allan Leinwand shared that he will be saying goodbye to Shopify in the coming weeks. With Allan's departure, I'm retiring the CTO jersey.

☆ Read the leaked farewell memo Shopify's departing CTO sent staff, praising the founder-led company and its accomplishments
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I'll be working with the team over the next few weeks to ensure a smooth and efficient transition. All of this is a tiny fraction of our truly incredible work, done by incredible humans. The best way to learn is to read the code, to pair program with Shopifolk inside and outside of your team. I didn't truly understand the impact Shopify has on merchants until I met some in person. I leave you in the capable hands of our leaders, and I know you'll continue to do incredible work.

☆ Shopify laid off 2 engineering VPs earlier in January as fears of more layoffs circulate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopify laid off at least two engineering vice presidents earlier in January. Shopify laid off at least two high-ranking engineering leaders this month, according to people familiar with the matter. The two employees were VP of Infrastructure Mike Lents and VP of Engineering Ravi Byakod. A Shopify spokesperson confirmed the departures. Shopify laid off about 10% of its workforce, which included more than 1,000 people, in July 2022.

It came after Amazon said in November it was looking to cut staff, including in its devices and recruiting organizations. The company had 2,450 employees, according to PitchBook data, suggesting around 490 employees were laid off. In a letter to employees, CEO Logan Green and President John Zimmer pointed to "a probable recession sometime in the next year" and rising ride-share insurance costs. Shopify: 1,000 jobs cutIn July, Shopify announced it laid off 1,000 employees, which equals 10% of its global workforce. Tesla: 6,000 jobs cut

When shopping for products to help address issues like under-eye puffiness, dark circles and fine lines, it’s important to buy items specifically designed for the under-eye area, said Dr. Karen Burke, a board-certified dermatologist and research scientist. According to the medical experts we consulted, under-eye patches work by targeting dark circles, crow’s feet, wrinkles and fine lines. The best under eye patches and masks of 2023Below are a handful of expert-recommended under-eye patches that are formulated to nourish the under-eye area. The experts we spoke to gave these eye patches a thumbs up when it comes to combating puffiness thanks to a cooling cucumber extract. These under-eye patches can be reused up to 10 times, according to the brand.

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