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Canadian billionaire Tobi Lutke's fortune jumps $5 billion despite voting backlash. The Shopify co-founder's net worth has climbed to $15 billion since July, even as his comments on voting rights and politics drew criticism at home. October 16, 2026. 1:52 PM German-Canadian billionaire Tobi Lutke, the co-founder and chief executive of e-commerce company Shopify, has seen his fortune rise by about $5 billion since July to $15 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, during a stretch in which his public comments have drawn some of the sharpest criticism of his career in Canada. Most of Lutke's wealth comes from his stake in Shopify, the Ottawa-based company whose software lets merchants run online stores and process payments. Bloomberg estimates he owns about 6% of the company, mostly through class B shares that carry extra votes. Shopify's market value is close to $222 billion, according to a Bloomberg report published on Thursday. AI deals lift the stock Investors have rewarded Shopify's push into artificial intelligence. In September, the company announced a partnership with Meta Platforms to bring Meta's AI agent, Muse, onto its platform, letting the assistant act as a personal shopper and complete purchases through Shopify's Shop Pay checkout. Shopify shares rose 7.5% on Sept. 22, the day the deal was announced, according to Traders Union. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Anurag Rana and Josh Christensen said Shopify's AI tools could help it win business from Salesforce and Oracle, according to Bloomberg. Lutke, who was born in Koblenz, Germany, moved to Canada in 2003. A year later, he and two partners started Snowdevil, an online shop selling snowboards, on software he wrote himself. The founders soon concluded that the software was worth more than the snowboards, and Shopify launched in 2006. Lutke has been chief executive since 2008, took the company public in 2015 and became a billionaire in 2017, according to Bloomberg. The rise in his wealth has come as Lutke has used his account on X to weigh in on Canadian politics, often in ways that have angered critics. In late July, he replied "Good system" to a post by Eric Thor, a retired TD Bank executive, who proposed "weighted voting proportional to the amount of income tax you pay." Under that plan, people who pay no income tax would get no vote and the highest earners would get up to five. Lutke added, "Reward productive people with leverage," according to Daily Hive. In the same thread, he suggested that pensioners should give up their vote. "Now you are a dependant and that means no voting, just like dependants under age," he wrote, according to HCAMag, which summarized the exchange. The posts were later deleted, Bloomberg reported. The remarks drew rebukes from academics and civil liberties groups. Dennis Pilon, a political scientist at York University, told CTV News the episode showed a return to a "19th century plutocracy." The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said such a system would violate Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees every citizen the right to vote. Critics also pointed out that Shopify's dual-class structure gives Lutke about 40% of the voting power with roughly 6% of the economic interest. Tariffs, fentanyl and protests Bloomberg reported that Lutke has also criticized Canada's counter-tariffs on U.S. goods, appeared to accept President Donald Trump's claim that Canada was not doing enough to stop fentanyl from crossing the border, and suggested police were more tolerant of disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters. He has also faced backlash over a Shopify merchant selling items that implied gay people groom children, according to Bloomberg. Lutke did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment. People who know him described the posts as part of his style. "He loves the debate," said John Ruffolo, an early Shopify investor. Rob Janson, chief investment officer of Westcourt Capital Corp., said, "You can't have a debate if you're not willing to be offended." The criticism has not changed where Shopify does business. Lutke has kept the company's headquarters in Ottawa and a large presence in Toronto, at a time when many Canadian start-ups move to the U.S. A survey by the group TechTO of 48 Canadian founders backed by the Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator found that 91% first incorporated in Canada, but 75% later set up a U.S. entity, according to Bloomberg. He is also involved with Build Canada, a group of technology founders that publishes policy proposals for the Canadian economy, CBC News has reported. The intelligence satisfies curiosity. The paid briefings satisfy strategy. 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Journalists for Human Rights recognizes Margaret Atwood with JHR Award for Extraordinary Achievement at Night for Rights 2026, presented by TD Bank. Oct 15, 2026, 10:22 ET TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2026 /CNW/ - Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) is honoured to announce that Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood will receive the JHR Award for Extraordinary Achievement at JHR's annual gala Night for Rights, presented by TD Bank. The event takes place tonight, Thursday, October 15, 2026, at Toronto's Arcadian Court. Ms. Atwood is being recognized for a body of work that has used storytelling to defend human rights and give voice to those silenced by oppression. She will also deliver the keynote address. A novelist, poet and essayist, Ms. Atwood is one of the most celebrated literary figures of our time, and her influence on how we think about power, freedom and dissent continues to grow. She has published more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays and graphic novels, read in more than 45 countries. Her work has repeatedly confronted authoritarianism and the erosion of rights, themes that run through The Handmaid's Tale and its Booker Prize-winning sequel The Testaments, as well as Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Beyond her fiction, Ms. Atwood has long advocated for writers facing censorship and persecution around the world, making her a steadfast ally of the human rights community. Her many honours include the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize and the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award. "Margaret Atwod's work endures because the questions it asks about power, freedom and dissent keep demanding answers," said Rachel Pulfer, President, Journalists for Human Rights. "She has given generations of readers the language to recognize threats to their rights and she has been a steadfast ally to those who report the truth at great personal risk. There is no one more deserving of this recognition." Joining Ms. Atwood on stage at Night for Rights will be JHR President Rachel Pulfer, TD Bank Senior Manager - Corporate & Public Affairs Grant McDonald, journalist and JHR Ambassador Lisa LaFlamme; Lyse Doucet, Chief International Correspondent at the BBC; Afghan-Canadian writer and filmmaker Jamal Aram; JHR African Programs Director Mustapha Dumbaya; and auctioneer Frances Frippe. This year's gala will be emceed by Nyokabi Macharia, a Kenyan performing artist and filmmaker who is flying in from Nairobi exclusively for Night for Rights. JHR is deeply grateful to Presenting Sponsor TD Bank, whose leadership and lead support make Night for Rights 2026 possible. TD's commitment to JHR helps the organization train journalists to report on human rights issues ethically and objectively in more than 16 countries. JHR also thanks Partner Sponsors UPS Canada, CBC and Power Corporation of Canada, and Gold Sponsors the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and Google, for their support this year. JHR extends its thanks to The Canadian Press, Toronto Star and CPAC, the official publicity sponsors of the event; to Media Sponsor Postmedia; and to Hospitility Sponsor Uber Canada. Our thanks to CNW Group for sponsoring this announcement. About Journalists for Human Rights Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) trains journalists worldwide to cover human rights issues ethically and objectively. For 24 years, Canada-based JHR has worked with over 25,000 journalists around the world. Currently, JHR operates sector-wide programs in over 16 countries. For more information, please visit www.jhr.ca. SOURCE Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) For media inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

CFPB targets debanking practices after OCC report. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in August 2025 to deter debanking, but a recent report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) found that the nine largest national banks maintained debanking policies. Now the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking action against those institutions in one of the few actions it has taken since the start of the current Trump administration. The CFPB announced a new initiative Wednesday to investigate debanking activities. The bureau says it will determine whether the nine banks named in the OCC report - JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and BMO Bank - and other institutions violated federal consumer financial laws, and it will take enforcement action if the investigation establishes grounds to do so.