If elected at Shopify’s June annual general meeting, Uber’s Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah and Rostra CEO Lulu Cheng Meservey will become independent directors. The Ottawa-headquartered firm disclosed the changes in a regulatory filing made earlier this month. (The Logic)
Talking point: Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce and ex-chair of Twitter, only joined Shopify’s board last June. On an internal Shopify podcast that month, he and CEO Tobi Lütke talked up how AI could generate new businesses, and offer new capabilities to the commerce company’s clients. Now, AI is leading Taylor off the board—in November, he became the post-upheaval chair of OpenAI, and in February he publicly unveiled his AI agent startup Sierra. Meservey steered Activision Blizzard through the PR battle surrounding its regulator-challenged US$69-billion takeover by Microsoft. Rostra, her new agency, exhorts tech founders to “go direct” to audiences via social platforms rather than through traditional media. (She’s said Shopify is already a practitioner). Meanwhile, advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis are advising Shopify shareholders to vote “no” on “say-on-pay,” the non-binding resolution on the firm’s executive compensation plan.