GameStop Corp. fired Matt Furlong, its chief executive officer of the past two years, and said Chairman Ryan Cohen will take on a new executive role.
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.
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 more than 20% to $20.80 in extended trading after the announcements.
GameStop has struggled to adapt to the increasing share of game sales conducted online and away from stores.
Furlong delivered a profitable holiday quarter for the company, in part due to job cuts and store closings. He said at the time that GameStop would become a much healthier business.
Cohen, the chain’s largest shareholder with 12% of the stock, commented about Furlong’s firing on Twitter.
Cohen is the founder of Chewy.com. Despite a historic runup in GameStop shares in 2021, 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.
(Updates with financial results, Cohen tweet.)
