Founder and CEO Toby Lütke and other senior executives are personally buying Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) shares from the open market. The show of faith follows as the company’s stock price continues to drop.
Lütke announced on Wednesday that he placed an order for US$10 million through a tweet that quotes FirstMark Capital founder Amish Jani’s claims that it’s a good opportunity to buy Shopify stock.
Company president Harley Finkelstein and CTO Allan Leinwand have made similar announcements, except they did not mention how much they were buying. VP of product Kaz Nejatian, meanwhile, shared that he has liquidated a “meaningful portion” of his family’s portfolio to buy shares. He tweeted this along with a message that sounds as if he’s encouraging employees to do the same.
This move, which one of the executives called “putting my money where my mouth is,” was mainly bashed by their followers on Twitter, with one comparing Lütke’s US$10 million purchase to the stock he sold in 2021.
It can be recalled that just a few days prior, Lütke appeared frustrated over the firms equity price after he took a swipe at financial analysts and wondered if they were being held accountable for their projections.
Shopify has had a bad landing from an early pandemic high, with shares plummeting by almost 80% in the past six months, with and currently trading with a US$300 handle. The huge drop in stock price dampened the company’s attempts at presenting strategic moves and plans at the Q1 2022 earnings call.
The buy-in has put the stock price on an upward trend and is over the US$350 mark as of this writing.
Information for this briefing was found via Sedar and Shopify. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
