Shopify shares edge up after falling on executive departures

Shopify Inc shares edged higher on Thursday, recovering partially from the previous day's fall, with analysts saying the news of planned senior executive departures may have limited impact due to the company's deep talent pool.

Chief Executive Officer Tobi Lutke said in a blog post on Wednesday the company's chief talent officer, chief legal officer and chief technology officer will all leave their roles.

"We remain confident it (Shopify) can continue to execute at a high level, despite the departures," Tom Forte, analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co said, pointing to the company's "deep bench of talented executives."

Shopify, which provides infrastructure for online stores, has seen its valuation soar in the past year as many businesses went virtual during the COVID-19 lockdowns, turning it into Canada's most valuable company.

Shopify declined to comment further on Lutke's statement suggesting current company leaders would step in to fill the three roles. After chief product officer Craig Miller left in September, Lutke took on the role in addition to CEO.

The Ottawa-based company is Canada's biggest homegrown tech success story, founded in 2006 and supporting over 1 million businesses globally, according to the company.

Jonathan Kees, analyst at Summit Insights Group, called the timing of the departures "a little alarming" but said the specific roles make it less concerning, given that the executives leaving are "more back-office roles."

Lutke said each one of them had their individual reasons to leave, without giving details.
"I am willing to give Tobi's explanation the benefit of the doubt," Kees added.

Toronto-listed shares of Shopify were up 3.5% at C$1526.41 on Thursday, giving it a market value of C$188 billion ($150 billion). It ended down 5.1% on Wednesday.

"While we would refer to the departure of three high-level executives as 'significant,' we would not refer to it as a 'brain drain,'" Forte added.