Pedestrians pass a GameStop store on 14th Street in Union Square, Thursday, January 28, 2021, in the New York City district of Manhattan.
John Minchillo | AP
GameStop announced on Thursday that Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen will become its chairman following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, scheduled for June 9.
The retailer’s shares jumped by more than 4% in the trading on the foreground market, which put the stock on the right track to suffer a three-day loss. Shares have given up some of their sky-high profits since a boom at the end of January, but are still more than 870% higher, giving the company a market value of $ 12.8 billion.
Cohen invested in GameStop last year to get the video game retailer focused on online sales and closing unprofitable stores in malls. Its involvement in the company sparked the wild ride of the stock earlier this year.
Cohen is also the manager of activist investor RC Ventures.
Kathy Vrabeck is currently GameStop’s board chair.
The transition is part of a broader management shuffle taking place at GameStop as it seeks to turn its business around.
It recently hired several executives from Amazon, Walmart, QVC and Chewy for top positions. Chief Commercial Officer Chris Homeister submitted his resignation to the company at the end of March. And in February, CFO Jim Bell announced his resignation because the company was looking for a successor with more e-commerce background.
GameStop said in a security statement on Thursday that other new nominees from the board include Larry Cheng, the first investor in Chewy, and Yang Xu, a manager at Kraft Heinz.
He also nominated current board members Alan Attal and CEO George Sherman.