Shopify (SHOP) CEO Says Staff Must Prove Their Jobs Can’t Be Done by AI
The head of the Canadian e-commerce company says that, going forward, employees will be required to prove that a particular job at the company cannot be done with AI before asking for more human staff and to raise the company’s headcount. Lutke made the statements in a memo to staff that he posted on social media.Lutke added that there’s a “fundamental expectation” across Shopify that employees embrace AI in their daily work, saying it has been a productivity “multiplier” at the company. “I’ve seen many of these people approach implausible tasks, ones we wouldn’t even have chosen to tackle before, with reflexive and brilliant usage of AI to get 100X the work done,” wrote the CEO.Shopify, which sells web-based software that helps retailers manage sales and run their operations online, will factor AI usage into future performance reviews, said Lutke. Shopify has made AI tools for its merchants a central part of its client offerings, rolling out a chatbot called “Sidekick” and a suite of automation tools that the company calls “Shopify Magic.”Headcount reductions and cost savings continue to be important at Shopify. The company cut 14% of its workforce in 2022 and 20% in 2023. At an investor event earlier this year, Shopify executives said they are confident that they can keep headcount flat by adopting new technologies that boost productivity.
Is SHOP Stock a Buy?
The stock of Shopify has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 34 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 21 Buy and 13 Hold recommendations assigned in the last three months. The average SHOP price target of $132.74 implies 68.41% upside from current levels.Next quarter’s earnings estimate for SHOP is $0.27 with a range of $0.22 to $0.37. The previous quarter’s EPS was $0.44. SHOP beat its EPS estimate 100.00% of the time in the past 12 months, while its overall industry beat the EPS estimate 50.00% of the time in the same period. In the last calendar year SHOP has Outperformed its overall industry.
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