Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce platform founded in 2006. The company offers a suite of tools and services that enable businesses to create and customize their own online stores, manage inventory and orders, process payments, and market their products. Tobi Lütke serves as CEO. Competitors include Amazon, WooCommerce, and Magento.

Recent Articles about Shopify

Photos of Sam Atlman and Fidji Simo by Getty Images. Portraits of John Coogan and Jordi Hays courtesy of TBPN. Art by Mike Sullivan

Why OpenAI’s Fidji Simo Bought the TBPN Podcast Amid Crusade Against ‘Side Quests’

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 2, 2026 2:27pm PDT

In recent weeks, Fidji Simo has burst into public view as the OpenAI executive bringing much-needed discipline to the AI startup, as it inches toward an initial public offering late this year. Last month, Simo—who is now CEO of AGI Deployment—delivered the sobering message to the company’s staff that OpenAI can no longer chase “side... In recent weeks, Fidji Simo has burst into public view as the OpenAI executive bringing...

James Detweiler, Deedy Das and Lulu Meservey.

Where Last Year’s ‘Next General Partner’ Finalists Are Now

By Julia Hornstein · Mar 26, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Investments in AI startups such as Mercor and Skild AI helped advance three of 16 finalists in last year’s list of Next General Partners to higher positions, including to the role of general partner in their firms. These promotions reflect how AI continues to dominate venture capital investing. Last year’s finalists can’t credit just AI,... Investments in AI startups such as Mercor and Skild AI helped advance three of 16 finalists in...

Photos via Getty Images

OpenAI Wrongfoots Disney

By Martin Peers and Ann Gehan · Mar 24, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Walt Disney Co. must be so glad it committed to investing $1 billion in OpenAI and becoming a customer of the ChatGPT creator. The theme park and entertainment firm agreed to both steps as part of a deal struck last December in which it licensed its characters for use on OpenAI’s Sora video-generation tool. On Tuesday, OpenAI decided to shut... Walt Disney Co. must be so glad it committed to investing $1 billion in OpenAI and becoming a...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI’s Shopping U-Turn Could Complicate Enterprise Playbook

By Ann Gehan · Mar 23, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI’s Shopping U-Turn Could Complicate Enterprise Playbook

By Ann Gehan · Mar 23, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI’s abrupt shopping pullback earlier this month didn’t just raise questions about its decision-making. It also affected several commerce and payments firms, including PayPal and Etsy, that have put in work to help the ChatGPT maker expand the high-profile shopping venture and are now in limbo as it sorts out what’s next. And in the case of... OpenAI’s abrupt shopping pullback earlier this month didn’t just raise questions about its...

Fal AI Co-Founder Burkay Gur. Getty Images.

Video Hosting Startup Fal in Funding Talks at $8 Billion Valuation

By Katie Roof · Mar 18, 2026 9:52pm PDT · 1 comment

Fal, a fast-growing cloud service for accessing and storing AI models that generate images, video, and audio, is in talks to raise $300 million to $350 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fundraise. The deal, which would nearly double the company’s paper valuation to around $8 billion from a financing three months ago,... Fal, a fast-growing cloud service for accessing and storing AI models that generate images,...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images.

Nvidia Sprays the Cash; FCC Chair’s SpaceX Defense

By Martin Peers · Mar 11, 2026 5:00pm PDT

If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has plenty of money to spare, particularly if you’re in business with him in some way. Nvidia’s announcement on Wednesday that it was putting $2 billion into Nebius, a European AI data center developer, was the fourth investment in a business partner... If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI’s Shift to Shopping Apps Faces Even More Hurdles

By Ann Gehan and Sri Muppidi · Mar 11, 2026 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

With OpenAI suddenly scaling back on chatbot checkouts, its foray into shopping hinges on convincing retailers to set up shop with dedicated apps within ChatGPT—and getting people to buy stuff there. It faces hurdles on both fronts. ChatGPT apps have been around for just a few months—available for around 100 consumer firms, including... With OpenAI suddenly scaling back on chatbot checkouts, its foray into shopping hinges on...

Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China via Getty Images

Alibaba is Moving Faster Than Amazon and OpenAI in AI For Commerce

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Mar 5, 2026 10:53am PST

Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China via Getty Images

Alibaba is Moving Faster Than Amazon and OpenAI in AI For Commerce

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Mar 5, 2026 10:53am PST

Last week, my colleague Qianer tested an AI agent inside Alibaba’s Qwen app, which resembles ChatGPT. She asked to get a ticket to see Pegasus 3, a comedy film about a race car driver that has been topping the Chinese box office. The agent found the nearest theater showing the movie and recommended seats and screening times for later in the day.... Last week, my colleague Qianer tested an AI agent inside Alibaba’s Qwen app, which resembles...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI Scales Back Shopping Plans for ChatGPT

By Ann Gehan and Sri Muppidi · Mar 4, 2026 5:20pm PST · 1 comment

OpenAI is scaling back its plan to introduce shopping directly inside ChatGPT, marking a change in its high-profile effort to put checkouts inside the chatbot. Instead of allowing users to make purchases directly from product listings that show up in ChatGPT search results, the company is now focused on having checkouts take place inside of... OpenAI is scaling back its plan to introduce shopping directly inside ChatGPT, marking a change...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The 17 People Crucial to AI Shopping

By Ann Gehan · Feb 25, 2026 6:00am PST

The AI shopping race is shifting quickly. In less than six months, AI companies have mostly stopped trying to make agents that browse and shop directly on retail sites and have focused instead on putting checkout features inside AI chatbots. That’s elevated the importance of the engineers who have been building these shopping features as well as... The AI shopping race is shifting quickly. In less than six months, AI companies have mostly...

Art by Getty Images

Why ChatGPT Faces Language Barriers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 24, 2026 7:00am PST

Many AI researchers believe AI models that listen and speak to people are trailing text-based models in capabilities and performance. That gap is even bigger when you look at audio models for languages other than English, especially outside the Western hemisphere.That could be a big issue for companies like OpenAI that are aggressively trying to... Many AI researchers believe AI models that listen and speak to people are trailing text-based...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Prakash Singh/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Software Quandary: Are OpenAI and Anthropic Frenemies or Foes?

By Martin Peers · Feb 23, 2026 5:00pm PST

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Prakash Singh/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Software Quandary: Are OpenAI and Anthropic Frenemies or Foes?

By Martin Peers · Feb 23, 2026 5:00pm PST

When does a frenemy become a mortal threat? That question should be top of mind for executives atop enterprise software firms, such as ServiceNow, Salesforce and Snowflake, each of which at various times has announced partnerships with OpenAI. And yet OpenAI seems to be doing everything it can to put at least some of these firms out of business.... When does a frenemy become a mortal threat? That question should be top of mind for executives...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Krisztian Bocsi/Getty Images.

OpenAI’s Magical Thinking; Nvidia on Deck This Week

By Martin Peers · Feb 22, 2026 3:00pm PST · 1 comment

Before we get to what’s coming this week, let’s take a moment to honor the company that has honed the power of magical thinking. That would be OpenAI, whose latest long term revenue and profit projections we reported on Friday night here. The most important element of the report was that in 2025, the cost of running AI models quadrupled, so the... Before we get to what’s coming this week, let’s take a moment to honor the company that has honed...

Wall Street traders last week. Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images

Shopify, Unity Get Slammed by Anxious Market

By Martin Peers · Feb 11, 2026 5:00pm PST

Talk about unforgiving! The great enterprise stock sell-off of 2026 recommenced on Wednesday, and it dragged down a couple of companies—Unity Software and Shopify—after they each reported decent December-quarter earnings. Shares of Shopify, most egregiously, fell as much as 12% after the e-commerce software platform said its first-quarter... Talk about unforgiving! The great enterprise stock sell-off of 2026 recommenced on Wednesday, and...

Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/ Getty Images.

ChatGPT Shopping Could Get Complicated Fast

By Ann Gehan · Feb 10, 2026 10:04am PST

OpenAI has touted shopping inside ChatGPT as a major business opportunity as it tries to raise tens of billions in fresh cash. Meanwhile, the company is still nailing down some online commerce basics. That includes figuring out the best way to navigate state sales taxes—people working on commerce inside OpenAI still haven’t decided how it... OpenAI has touted shopping inside ChatGPT as a major business opportunity as it tries to raise...

The Amazon Alexa+ Super Bowl commercial starring Chris Hemsworth. Screenshot via YouTube/Amazon Alexa.

What to Expect from Spotify, Lyft and Pinterest Earnings This Week

By Martin Peers · Feb 8, 2026 3:00pm PST

The Amazon Alexa+ Super Bowl commercial starring Chris Hemsworth. Screenshot via YouTube/Amazon Alexa.

What to Expect from Spotify, Lyft and Pinterest Earnings This Week

By Martin Peers · Feb 8, 2026 3:00pm PST

After the crush of tech news last week, including a big AI-fueled stock sell-off, things might calm down a bit in the next few days. With any luck, we’ll have time to debate which of the tech companies’ Super Bowl ads running Sunday night were the best and which were the worst. My vote for best is the Amazon Alexa spot, by the way, although the... After the crush of tech news last week, including a big AI-fueled stock sell-off, things might...