Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Those who want an idea of how GameStop (GME) performed in the last quarter are probably not encouraged by the news that hit prior to the Q1 2023 earnings report. Moments before the financial quarterly results were released, GameStop announced that CEO Matt Furlong had been terminated. Ryan Cohen was also named the GameStop Executive Chairman.
Here's the full statement from the GameStop Investor Relations website:
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) (“GameStop” or the “Company”) today disclosed that its Board of Directors has elected Ryan Cohen as Executive Chairman, effective immediately. Mr. Cohen’s responsibilities include capital allocation and overseeing management.
In conjunction, the Company's former CEO has been terminated.
Furlong was initially appointed to the GameStop CEO position back in June 2021 after former CEO George Sherman had announced he was stepping down. Furlong had previously worked at Amazon for nine years, most recently serving as its Country Leader and overseeing that company's business in Australia.
Furlong's termination comes months after he had declared that GameStop was on a path to full-year profitability. Needless to say, this is likely not going to pan out, but that remains to be seen.
"GameStop is a much healthier business today than it was at the start of 2021," Furlong said during March's Q4 2022 earnings call. "We have considerable cash on hand, negligible debt, streamlined inventory, and a path to full-year profitability."
There was no further statement from GameStop, officially. However, new Executive Chairman Ryan Cohen did issue a vague post on Twitter.
We're monitoring this story as it develops and will be on the lookout for GameStop's next CEO. Keep it on Shacknews for the latest updates on GameStop and the company's Q1 2023 earnings.