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Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

news.shopify.com

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Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#341

Post by ipsi »

Arubis wrote: post #155

“We will also keep Slack and internal email open today for everyone so we can share farewells.” That’s drastically different. Most orgs that’ve run layoffs over the last few years have terminated access immediately, or even before informing those losing jobs. This feels more human, and I hope it goes well for them.

I was laid off recently, and my now-former employer initially disabled accounts immediately, then reversed their decision and reactivated them (all while I was asleep). The first I knew that something was a bit awry was when I opened my laptop in the morning and saw I'd been logged out from Slack and removed from the GitHub org. The HR meeting invite then made it very clear what was going on and I wasn't permanently locked out until after that, a few hours later.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#343

Post by ejb999 »

mortenjorck wrote: post #240
bonney_io wrote: post #216

This all sucks, and I hate that CEOs can continue to lie about layoffs, hire uncontrollably, then completely 180 and lay tons of folks off. That said: where do I sign up for 16 weeks of severance pay?

> That said: where do I sign up for 16 weeks of severance pay? The cruel irony is that having Shopify on your resume will open a lot of doors and likely result in a shorter job search than those laid off from lower-profile companies with less severance. For point of comparison, my no-name series-D gave us a little over two weeks… and I’m unfortunately still looking 20 weeks later.

Could work the other way to for some people, imo - some folks I know won't even consider interviewing ex-google, ex-meta, ex-amazon folks, thinking they have been overpaid and/or pampered for years, and even if they are temporarily willing to accept a much lower salary, will be the first out the door when another better paying opportunity comes along and/or the FAANGS start hiring again.

The picture painted in the media of these 'pampered' employees - true or not - does affect the perceptions of some hiring managers.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#344

Post by mbesto »

bartread wrote: post #266

"We are changing the shape of Shopify significantly today to pay unshared attention to our mission." What a way to lead, and what an absolutely grotesque euphemism (not to mention a barbaricly tortuous use of English). Why do companies write like this? It's just awful. I'm only half-joking when I suggest that if they'd taken this text and asked GPT-4 to rewrite it in a compassionate tone they'd have got a better resu…

> Why do companies write like this? It's just awful.

You aren't the audience, that's why.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#345

Post by organsnyder »

annexrichmond wrote: post #292
organsnyder wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shopify calls its first interview the "life story" interview, and (in my experience) it was a great place for me to talk about my career, reflect on past successes and mistakes, and demonstrate empathy and self-awareness.

I did that interview. Borderline illegal. My life story I consider pretty personal and was so was a pretty uncomfortable interview.

I didn't feel compelled to share anything I didn't want to share. I really felt free to frame it in a way that I was comfortable with. It's as much a "career story" as a "life story", IIRC.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#346

Post by susanasj »

Shopify shares up 25% today, which explains most of what's happening here.

I agree with all the other comments criticizing the CEO's leadership of furiously hiring and now making massive cuts, but I think that is missing the context that the CEO does not answer to you or me, or to business professors, or to his employees. He answers to the board, which typically care about stock price and not much else. Today is a massive success in that regard.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#347

Post by TremendousJudge »

InCityDreams wrote: post #196
hgsgm wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very European.

Europe Big place, many country - which part?

The same way an anonymous internet person defaults to male American, "European" defaults to "Western Europe", which actually means "The original EU members, plus maybe England"

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#348

Post by sharkweek »

bambataa wrote: post #143

Is this the same CEO who decided to double the engineering team in a single year? https://techcouver.com/2021/01/06/shopify-to-double-engineer... Aren’t CEOs paid ludicrously well to make long term decisions, rather than just flail around?

A favorite quote of mine about the role of a CEO from the movie Margin Call. Tuld, the CEO of a major bank the night before the housing crisis in 08 starts to fly out of control, after one of the bank's risk analysts discovers they're holding toxic assets:

John Tuld : So, what you're telling me, is that the music is about to stop, and we're going to be left holding the biggest bag of odorous excrement ever assembled in the history of capitalism.

Peter Sullivan : Sir, I not sure that I would put it that way, but let me clarify using your analogy. What this model shows is the music, so to speak, just slowing. If the music were to stop, as you put it, then this model wouldn't even be close to that scenario. It would be considerably worse.

John Tuld : Let me tell you something, Mr. Sullivan. Do you care to know why I'm in this chair with you all? I mean, why I earn the big bucks.

Peter Sullivan : Yes.

John Tuld : I'm here for one reason and one reason alone. I'm here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now. That's it. Nothing more. And standing here tonight, I'm afraid that I don't hear - a - thing. Just... silence.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#349

Post by ambicapter »

the_only_law wrote: post #327
ambicapter wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worrying won't pay your rent either, is the point.

No, but it’ll certainly make me more likely to do things that might pay my rent. Certainly compared to a “la de da nothing is wrong xd it is what it is” attitude.

You're basically agreeing with the people you were arguing with. It's the "do things" part that worthwhile, not the "worry about it" part.

> “la de da nothing is wrong xd it is what it is” attitude

You misunderstood, no one above was taking that attitude.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#350

Post by adrr »

tgtweak wrote: post #255
ilamont wrote: post #237

Shopify was the perfect place to bootstrap this [logistics] effort from 0 to 1 and we have done this. The next step is to take what we have and take it from 1 to N as a main quest. Then he says they're selling to Flexport, an act which doesn't sound like a "main quest" at all ... it sounds like it's a difficult side quest being offloaded to someone else. For Shopify customers: What does this mean for shops using Shop…

SFN was just deliverr anyway so it will likely continue in that sense under flexports banner. Since Shopify sold it as an equity swap they still have an interest in promoting it and keeping it in house. The bigger picture here is that Shopifys visions of becoming an aggregate Amazon and competing in this space are dwindling. Sad as there is a real solution waiting here.

I do wonder what shopify's vision is now. I figured they wanted to be the next Tmall with merchant customized storefronts but on a unified stack including logistics. They have the best opportunity to take on Amazon since all the brands hate Amazon and there is a big desire to control presentation from the brands. Brands don't care about fulfillment except cost and shipping speed and most outsource it to a large 3PLs.
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