By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
(Reuters) – GameStop Corp. is looking for a new CEO to replace George Sherman, as it is a video game retailer and an e-commerce company, three people familiar with the matter said Monday.
It would be the biggest stir at GameStop since Ryan Cohen, co-founder and former CEO of online pet food company Chewy Inc, joined the board in January. The stock is up nearly 4,000% higher than a year ago, after becoming the sticker child of retailers betting on so-called “meme” stocks.
GameStop’s board is working with a chief executive hunter on the chief executive’s search, sources said, requesting anonymity because the case is confidential.
Several GameStop board directors are involved in the search and have spoken to potential candidates from the gambling industry as well as the e-commerce and technology sectors, the sources said.
A GameStop spokesman declined to comment.
GameStop shares traded up 12% at $ 138.75 in the afternoon trading yesterday afternoon, giving the company a market value of about $ 10 billion.
The replacement of the CEO is the latest in a series of changes that Cohen has pursued since joining GameStop. Former CFO Jim Bell and Frank Hamlin, chief client officer, are one of the senior executives leaving the company in recent weeks.
George Sherman, who has been CEO since April 2019, is being attributed internally to the cost reduction and steering of GameStop by the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to many retailers being out of order.
But Cohen and other GameStop board members consider Sherman’s 25 years of experience with mainly brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Advance Auto Parts Inc and Home Depot Inc., to be less relevant to the digital transformation they have embarked on as a technology venture.
Cohen, who was named GameStop’s board chairman last week, seeks to make the company the online destination for video game fans, just as Chewy pet lovers have won.
He is applying for a number of jobs at GameStop, including Elliott Wilke as chief growth officer, Jenna Owens as chief operating officer and Matt Francis as chief technology officer. All three have previously worked at Amazon.com Inc. worked.
Cohen also encouraged people from Chewy, including Andrea Wolfe as vice president of brand development, Neda Pacifico as senior vice president of e-commerce and Kelli Durkin as senior vice president of customer service.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Dan Grebler)