Canada’s largest tech company Shopify is voluntarily transferring its United States (US) stock exchange listing from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to the Nasdaq Global Select Market (Nasdaq).
Shopify expects its Class A Subordinate Voting Shares to cease trading on the NYSE at market close next Friday, March 28, and commence trading on the Nasdaq on Monday, March 31, the company said in a statement. Shopify will continue trading under the ticker symbol SHOP, and its Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listing remains unaffected.
Shopify’s TSX stock price jumped eight percent following the news, as of noon Wednesday.
In response to questions from BetaKit, a Shopify spokesperson did not explain why the company transferred its listing or the benefits a Nasdaq listing has over the NYSE, but said that Shopify is “excited to join the Nasdaq community and be listed among the most innovative tech companies in the world.”
The Nasdaq is the much newer exchange (it was founded in 1971 to the NYSE’s 1792), and differentiates itself by holding listings for most major tech stocks, while the NYSE is known as a home for more traditional companies. Companies like Apple, Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon, and Nvidia make up some of the Nasdaq’s top listings, while the NYSE features giants like Boeing, General Motors, and Walmart.
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The stock listing transfer appears to be another move that brings Shopify closer to its peers in American tech. In a 10-K filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month, Shopify listed its office in New York City alongside its normally standalone Ottawa headquarters. A 10-K form is required from domestic issuers. Until a few weeks ago, Shopify had been filing the 40-F form used by foreign issuers. The company also modified how it reported its assets, reorienting its assets from majority Canadian to majority US-based.
While TD Securities managing director Peter Haynes said the changes could accelerate Shopify’s potential to be a US-domiciled company, a Shopify spokesperson told BetaKit at the time that Shopify chose to voluntarily file the 10-K form “in order to align our disclosures more closely with other software peers we believe our investors are familiar with.”
Disclosure: BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.
Feature image courtesy Shopify.