Shopify has laid off a number of staff from its partnerships division as part of an overhaul to how it works with external partners, sources have told The Logic.

The layoffs, which took place on Wednesday, affected a significant number of staff, two sources familiar with the cuts told The Logic. The sources are not being named because they are not authorized to speak on the matter. 

One source described the layoffs as “fairly significant” and said they had impacted staff across the partnerships division. Several LinkedIn posts from staff who lost their jobs claimed the layoffs in the partnerships division were widespread.

As part of the cuts, sources said Shopify also laid off an entire agency team. Shopify’s partnerships division supports businesses that build external tools to help merchants who use its technology sell more effectively. Roles were also eliminated in other teams, a source said. Ben McConaghy, Shopify’s director of communications, said that the agency team “remains strong” with more than 100 people working on it.

Shopify told those who were laid off that their roles were being eliminated due to a restructuring, according to several LinkedIn posts and a source familiar with the matter. 

Shopify didn’t answer The Logic’s questions about the scope of the layoffs. McConaghy, pointed to an X post from Atlee Clark, Shopify’s vice-president of partnerships, which said the cuts were part of a restructuring and that the firm was “starting a new chapter” for partners.

Shopify has a long-standing history of working with third-party businesses, called partners, that help its merchants run their Shopify stores. Partners might build apps or store themes for merchants. Partner businesses earn money from Shopify based on a portion of the revenue those merchants make. In 2024, Shopify said it paid US$1 billion to its partners.

On Wednesday, Clark announced she would lead work to bring partnerships closer together with Shopify’s product and community-building teams. The firm will also now focus on working with partners on initiatives like agentic commerce, she added. In a post on X, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein said the changes would help the firm’s partner ecosystem “hit a new level.”

Shopify has laid off scores of employees across several rounds of redundancies in the past two years, following two mass layoffs in 2022 and 2023.

Amidst the cuts, Shopify’s business has continued to grow. Its revenue and share price have both performed well, partly as a result of the company investing more resources into bringing big-name brands onto its platform. The firm has also doubled down on artificial intelligence to both operate more efficiently and help its merchants grow revenue. Earlier this month, Shopify also announced it would soon launch a new system to help AI agents shop online.

Update: Additional detail about the layoffs and further comment from Shopify has been added.