GameStop said Thursday morning that billionaire activist investor Ryan Cohen would take over because the video game retailer’s chief executive, chairman and president effective immediately — and he won’t be collecting a salary.
Shares of the corporate fell 1.8%.
GameStop’s board, with Cohen abstaining, unanimously voted to appoint the entrepreneur because the retailer’s top executive on Wednesday. Cohen had previously held the title of executive chairman but will step down from the role upon his latest appointment, in line with a securities filing.
Cohen won’t “receive any compensation” for his work, a news release said.
The move comes greater than three months after GameStop fired CEO Matthew Furlong, made Cohen executive chairman and appointed longtime company soldier Mark Robinson as its “principal executive officer” and general manager. GameStop didn’t give a reason for Furlong’s dismissal on the time, nevertheless it got here just months after the corporate had reported its first quarterly profit in two years with Furlong on the helm.
Several weeks later, the corporate announced that CFO Diana Saadeh-Jajeh was resigning.
With the most recent move, Cohen can even assume the role of principal executive officer from Robinson. He previously served as general counsel and secretary, and he added principal executive officer to his list of duties back in June. Now, he’ll resume as just general counsel and secretary, in line with a securities filing.
Cohen, who founded pet food retailer Chewy and has grow to be often known as the “king” of meme stocks, bought a stake in GameStop in 2020 and joined the board in 2021 – through the height of the meme phenomenon.
As of late June, his firm RC Ventures was GameStop’s largest shareholder with a 12.09% stake, in line with FactSet.
Since Cohen joined the corporate, the business hasn’t shown many signs of a turnaround, albeit with some exceptions. Earlier this month, GameStop reported its second-quarter financial results, posting a narrower loss than it did a yr ago, in addition to a slight increase in revenue.
