Shopify Announces Q3 2019 Financial Results

Shopify announced strong financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019. Total revenue in the third quarter was $390.6 million, a 45% increase from the comparable quarter in 2018. Shopify also surpassed one million merchants worldwide on their platform, hitting a milestone.

“More than a million merchants are now building their businesses on Shopify, as more entrepreneurs around the world reach for independence,” said Tobi Lütke, Shopify’s CEO. “These merchants chose Shopify because we’re making entrepreneurship easier, and we will continue to level the playing field to help merchants everywhere succeed.”

“Our strong results in the quarter were driven in part by the success of our international expansion, which is just one of the many ways we are investing in the platform,” said Amy Shapero, Shopify’s CFO. “By carefully balancing these multiple opportunities that have different investment time horizons, we can keep investing in the innovations that will power merchants in the future while helping them grow rapidly today.”

Third-Quarter Financial Highlights

• Total revenue in the third quarter was $390.6 million, a 45% increase from the comparable quarter in 2018.
• Subscription Solutions revenue grew 37% to $165.6 million. This increase was driven primarily by growth in Monthly Recurring Revenue1 ("MRR"), largely due to an increase in the number of merchants joining the Shopify platform.
• Merchant Solutions revenue grew 50%, to $225.0 million, driven primarily by the growth of Gross Merchandise Volume2 ("GMV").
• MRR as of September 30, 2019, was $50.7 million, up 34% compared with $37.9 million as of September 30, 2018. Shopify Plus contributed $13.5 million, or 27%, of MRR compared with 24% of MRR as of September 30, 2018.
• GMV for the third quarter was $14.8 billion, an increase of $4.8 billion, or 48%, over the third quarter of 2018. Gross Payments Volume3 ("GPV") grew to $6.2 billion, which accounted for 42% of GMV processed in the quarter, versus $4.1 billion, or 41%, for the third quarter of 2018.
• Gross profit dollars grew 45%, to $216.7 million, compared with $149.7 million recorded for the third quarter of 2018.
• Operating loss for the third quarter of 2019 was $35.7 million, or 9% of revenue, versus a loss of $31.4 million, or 12% of revenue, for the comparable period a year ago.
• Adjusted operating income4 for the third quarter of 2019 was 3% of revenue, or $10.5 million; adjusted operating loss for the third quarter of 2018 was 1% of revenue, or $2.4 million.
• Net loss for the third quarter of 2019 was $72.8 million, or $0.64 per share, compared with $23.2 million, or $0.22 per share, for the third quarter of 2018. Net loss for the third quarter of 2019 includes a tax provision of $48.3 million.  This provision is primarily due to a one-time capital gain triggered by the transfer of regional relationship and territory rights from our Canadian entity to regional headquarters, which allows us to develop and maintain merchant and commercial operations in their respective regions as we expand internationally.
• Adjusted net loss4 for the third quarter of 2019 was $33.6 million, or $0.29 per share, compared with adjusted net income of $5.8 million, or $0.05 per share, for the third quarter of 2018.
• At September 30, 2019, Shopify had $2.67 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, compared with $1.97 billion on December 31, 2018. The increase reflects $688.0 million of net proceeds from Shopify’s offering of Class A subordinate voting shares in the third quarter of 2019.