The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Shopify exceeded revenue expectations as it returned to a profitable third quarter ahead of the holiday shopping season, buoyed by cost-cutting measures, bets on artificial intelligence and a divestiture of the company's delivery and warehousing operations. The Globe's Temur Durrani writes that shares of Shopify jumped by 21.3 per cent on Thursday in Toronto. The Ottawa-based company reported total revenue of $1.7-billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, whereas analysts on average had anticipated $1.67-billion (all figures U.S.). Net income reached $718-million, which includes a net gain of $555-million from investments. That compared with a loss of $159-million in the same period last year. Over the past few months, Shopify has been undergoing a period of transition. Shopify launched a suite of AI tools this year for the businesses that pay for its services, while the company also continues to automate its own labour force by reducing the workload where possible. Dubbed Shopify Magic, the new features allow the company's merchants to perform administrative tasks and tackle creative challenges, such as responding to customer inquiries or marketing their products.