The Daily Chase: TD, First Horizon terminate takeover; Shopify cuts jobs

That’s it for TD Bank’s deal to buy up First Horizon after the companies mutually agreed to terminate the US$13.4-billion acquisition amid uncertainty about the timetable for regulatory approvals.

SHOPIFY SLASHES JOBS, SELLS LOGISTICS UNIT

Further sign of the times over at Shopify, as the company is again taking a hatchet to its headcount and plotting a new course when it comes to the logistics side of the business. Let’s deal with the headcount first – the company is cutting more than 20 per cent of its staff, the second major job cut in less than a year. The other side of the equation is the sale of most of its logistics business to Flexport in exchange for a 13 per cent equity interest in the company, where it will also gain a board seat. Job cuts aside, that logistics move is a significant development – Shopify shelled out a lot of cash to build out that side of the business, between buying warehouse logistics firm 6 Rivers for US$450 million and shipping services provider Deliverr Inc. for US$2.1 billion. There’s a lot going on here – on top of the Flexport deal, 6 Rivers is getting offloaded to Ocado in a separate deal. To cap it off, investors seem to be cheering the moves – shares of Shopify are up 17 per cent in the premarket.

TELUS TOPS Q1 EXPECTATIONS, RAISES DIVIDEND