Shopify buys two important website domains

Article Excerpt

Shopify offers merchants of all sizes Internet-based software to design, set up and manage e-commerce stores across multiple sales channels. It also handles digital payments and shipping. SHOPIFY, $153.03, remains a buy. The company (Toronto symbol SHOP; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (www.shopify.ca; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $197.0 billion; No dividends paid) is now reporting its purchase of two important website domains from EMERGE Commerce Ltd. (symbol ECOM on the Toronto Venture Exchange). Specifically, Shopify gets premium web domains Shop.ca and Shop.us for $536,000. Following the transaction, the Shop domains now automatically re-direct traffic to Shopify’s Shop App. Through the deal, Shopify now holds a storied (and currently idled) Canadian e-commerce asset. Founded in 2011 by Drew Green and Trevor Newell, Shop.ca was an early Canadian Amazon competitor. That company received significant venture financing but eventually laid off most of its staff before declaring bankruptcy in 2016. Over about five years, Shop.ca had raised $72 million in equity financing, but it cumulatively lost the same amount. Shopify is…