GameStop Corp., the struggling video-game retailer, fired Matt Furlong, its chief executive officer for the past two years, and said Chairman Ryan Cohen will take on a new executive role. The shares plunged.
(Bloomberg) — GameStop Corp., the struggling video-game retailer, fired Matt Furlong, its chief executive officer for the past two years, and said Chairman Ryan Cohen will take on a new executive role. The shares plunged.
Cohen’s responsibilities as executive chairman of the video-game chain will include management oversight and capital allocation, the company said Wednesday in a statement. GameStop’s general counsel, Mark Robinson, will become general manager and principal executive officer.
The money-losing retailer also reported fiscal first-quarter sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates. Revenue in the period ended April 29 fell to $1.24 billion, missing estimates of $1.34 billion. The loss in the quarter narrowed to 14 cents and was smaller than the 17 cents analysts projected.
Shares of GameStop fell 18% in premarket trading before New York exchanges opened on Thursday. The shares were up 41% this year through the close Wednesday.
GameStop has struggled to adapt to the increasing share of game sales conducted online and away from stores. Annual sales have plunged from a recent peak of $9.36 billion to $5.93 billion last year.
Furlong delivered a profitable holiday quarter for the company, in part due to job cuts and store closings. Cohen said at the time that GameStop would become a much healthier business. The company said in a filing Wednesday that while Furlong was fired as CEO, his resignation from the board “did not result from any disagreement with the company.”
Read more: GameStop’s Cost Discipline Can’t Stop Cash Burn: Preview
Cohen is the chain’s largest shareholder with 12% of the stock. Shortly after GameStop announced Furlong’s departure, Cohen posted a message on Twitter that appears to be a play on his name.
Cohen is the founder of Chewy.com. Despite a historic run-up in GameStop shares in 2021 during the meme-stock craze, he has failed to capitalize on interest in the brand. Management has unsuccessfully experimented with Web3 and a variety of business models for its brick-and-mortar stores.
In its filing, the company said it continues to focus on “three overarching goals: establishing omnichannel retail experience, achieving profitability and leveraging brand equity to support growth.”
(Updates with premarket trading from the first paragraph)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.