Fortune’s annual 40 under 40 rankings of the “most influential young people in business” features a familiar face: Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke made the exclusive list, and ranked pretty highly to boot.
The founder of Ottawa’s e-commerce darling ranked 11th on the list, behind French President Emmanuel Macron (#1), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg (#2) and tennis star Serena Williams (#7).
But Lütke ranked higher than some pretty prestigious company: He beat Spotify founder Daniel Ek (#13), Dropbox CEO Drew Houston (#19) and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel (#21); he even outranked celebrities such as comedian Kevin Hart (#17) and musician Chance the Rapper (#29). (Sorry, that’s “musician and rule breaker” Chance the Rapper, according to Fortune.)
(Sponsored)

For the fifth year in a row, Ottawa will become the epicentre of Canadian culinary excellence in late January. Chefs from Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Moncton

How Carleton is using simulation and visualization to improve training, design and human performance
From healthcare to aviation to architecture, simulation and visualization tools have become an essential part of training, analysis and decision-making in sectors that rely on precision. At Carleton University, researchers
The 37-year-old’s profile on the list suggests Shopify’s CEO has been relatively low-key in the firm’s success to date, but that with the company’s continual success since its IPO and having recently passed the 500,000 merchant mark, “it might be Lütke’s turn to step into the spotlight.”
This is the second Forty Under 40 award in Lütke’s name; in 2011, he was named one of the OBJ’s Forty Under 40 recipients.
A duet with Chance the Rapper may still be a few years out, but Lütke still manages standing ovations from analysts with results such as Shopify’s most recent quarter, which saw the firm’s revenues jump 75 per cent year-over-year.

