Canada’sShopify to sell off its logistics businesses as part of a restructuring: E-commerce platform Shopify will sell off its logistics and warehousing divisions to end-to-end shipping company Flexport, in what it is saying is a move to refocus its business, according to a press release. Flexport will acquire last-mile delivery company Deliverr — which Shopify had bought less than a year ago for USD 2.1 bn — for an undisclosed amount. The transaction will see Shopify acquire stock representing some 13% of equity in Flexport, bringing its stake in the company to the “high teens,” the Wall Street Journal reports. The transaction should close by the end of 1H 2023, the press release said.

Shopify will also be selling off its fulfillment solutions provider 6 River Systems to Ocado, an online grocery fulfillment specialist, for an undisclosed amount, according to a separate press release.

Expect layoffs: While some employees will move to Flexport or Ocado, an estimated 20% of employees are expected to be laid off as a result of the structural changes, according to a letter CEO Tobi Lutke wrote to employees last week.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative will extend to Afghanistan, after China and Pakistan came to an agreement with the Taliban on Saturday, Bloomberg reports. The Taliban’s top diplomat, Amir Khan Muttaqi, met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Islamabad, where they pledged to cooperate to reconstruct Afghanistan, including through the expansion of the USD 60 bn China-Pakistan economic belt to the nation, the news outlet reports. The agreement could draw in bns of USD to Afghanistan’s infrastructure, Bloomberg writes.

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