A GameStop store is illustrated in New York, January 29, 2021.
Carlo AllegriI | Reuters
GameStop shares rose more than 100 percent on Wednesday as investors entered the brick-and-mortar retailer amid a stir in Suite C.
The shares were stopped with less than 30 minutes left on the trading day, and the shares ended the day rising by 103.9%.
GameStop announced on Tuesday that its chief financial officer Jim Bell will resign on March 26.
“Mr. Bell’s resignation was not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices, including accounting principles and practices,” the company said in a statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sources familiar with the matter told Business Insider that Bell did not leave voluntarily, but was pushed by Ryan Cohen, co-founder of Chewy, who made an investment in GameStop last year in an effort to help the company accelerate. online impulse.
Bloomberg News reported Tuesday night that the GameStop board pushed Bell to execute the change faster, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Cohen’s appointment to the GameStop board helped increase the very short-circuited stock in January, leading to the epic shortening of the GameStop, which sparked retail mania and, ultimately, congressional attention.
“We recognize that leadership changes often follow activist settlements, and Mr. Bell’s departure was reciprocal, non-immediate, and does not suggest any disagreement with the company / board,” Jefferies stock analyst Stephanie Wissink told clients. “We believe Mr. Bell deserves recognition for a series of actions that protected GME’s capital in the later stages of the last hardware cycle, when sales fell sharply.”
Jefferies added that GameStop is likely to look for a CFO replacement with a technology, compared to the retail background.
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