News Summary

Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce platform, has updated its revenue sharing policy for app developers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shopify allowed developers to keep the first $1 million USD in revenue each year as a measure to support small developers. However, this annual exemption has been rolled back and will now only apply to the first $1 million USD of a developer’s lifetime revenue. The 15 percent revenue share for earnings above this threshold remains unchanged. The policy change has sparked some backlash among developers who feel it could negatively impact their motivation and business plans. Shopify has stated that the revenue from this change will be used to fund tools, infrastructure, and innovation that benefit developers at various stages.