The company announced Tuesday that Jim Bell, its executive vice president and chief financial officer, has resigned on March 26. GameStop (GME) began looking for a new chief financial officer ‘with the capabilities and qualifications to accelerate GameStop’s transformation’, he said, alluding to the company’s efforts to shift the focus from physical to online retail.
The announcement comes about a month after a trading spree fueled by Reddit page WallStreetBets caused a huge increase in and later a drop in GameStop’s share. From the beginning of the year to January 27, when the stock closed at $ 347.51, shares rose nearly 1,915%. GameStop shares are now trading around $ 45, a big drop, but still higher than where it started this year.
The event generated massive publicity for GameStop and drew the attention of everyone from the White House and Janet Yellen to billionaires like Mark Cuban and Elon Musk, not to mention the entire internet. It has also raised questions about GameStop’s future, as short-sellers who believed the fortune of the struggling retailer would decline further are seen against retailers who believe the company is undervalued.
Asked by CNN Business about the reason for Bell’s departure, a GameStop spokesman said the company “did not comment further on the announcement at this time.”
In a press release, GameStop said that he had “Mr. Bell thanks for his important contributions and leadership, including his efforts over the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘
Bell will become the chief financial officer of GameStop in June 2019. In that year, the company’s CEO admitted that GamesStop was in a ‘difficult place’ – it was suffering from declining sales and planned to close around 200 stores. As the larger video game industry grew, physical games, one of GameStop’s mainstays, became less popular.
Then the pandemic hits and things get worse. In September, the company announced that it plans to close between 400 and 450 stores worldwide by the end of the year, about 100 more than they initially predicted in March. And in the three months ended October 31, the company’s most reported quarter, it showed a net loss of $ 18.8 million.
Some investors remain hopeful about the company’s ability to reduce its reliance on sales in physical stores and the transition to e-commerce. The founder of the online pet store Chewy.com, Ryan Cohen, made a huge investment in GameStop last year and now sits with two former Chewy colleagues on the board and can help push the retailer into the digital age.
If no permanent CFO replacement is found before Bell’s retirement, the company plans to appoint Diana Jajeh, chief accounting officer, as interim chief financial officer.
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