GameStop got a new chief executive and a new board member on Monday: Matthew Furlong.
Claudio Caridi/Dreamstime.com
The two big meme stocks, GameStop and AMC Entertainment, dropped Monday in what turned out to be a strong day for the broader market. The losses coincided with—but probably weren’t tied to—an update that GameStop gave on its board shake-up.
New CEO Matthew Furlong became a director on Monday, GameStop said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He replaces George Sherman both on the board and as CEO. Furlong’s first day as chief executive was also on Monday.
Shares of GameStop (ticker: GME) were down 7% to $198.99. AMC Entertainment (AMC) was down 7.2% to $55.15. The S&P 500 index was up 1.4%. Both AMC and GameStop are volatile stocks, with trading action often moving more on short interest, options activity, and online chatter than on fundamental factors or news.
Furlong is one of two key fresh hires that GameStop’s biggest believers hope will implement a digital-focused strategy designed to push the company to live up to its soaring valuation. He previously oversaw Amazon.com’s Australia business. Furlong will be joined by fellow Amazon alum Mike Recupero, whose first day as chief financial officer is July 12.
Sherman had been GameStop’s chief executive since April 2019. He oversaw efforts to cut costs and pay down debt. With help from a $551.7 million stock sale this spring, the company ended the fiscal first quarter with no long-term debt on its balance sheet.
Since January’s short squeeze that sent GameStop shares on a rollercoaster, Sherman hasn’t said much publicly. During the past two earnings calls, he read prepared remarks and didn’t take questions from analysts.
Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen is board chairman. Other directors are former Chewy executives Alan Attal and Jim Grube, Kraft Heinz executive Yang Xu, and Volition Capital co-founder Larry Cheng. Volition, a growth-equity firm, was the first institutional investor in Chewy; Cohen is also a roughly 13% shareholder in Volition.
At the annual shareholders meeting earlier this month, Cohen declined to lay out a definitive roadmap.
“We have a lot of work in front of us and it will take time,” Cohen told the crowd. “We’re trying to do something that nobody in the retail space has ever done. But we believe we’re putting the right pieces in place and we have clear goals: delighting customers and driving shareholder value for the long-term.”
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]
