Who is the owner of GameStop?

GameStop Corp. Chief Executive Matt Furlong received total compensation of nearly $17 million in 2021, after being in the role for only a little more than six months.

Furlong started as the videogame and consumer electronics retailer’s GME, -0.98% CEO on June 21, after most recently overseeing Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN, -0.24% Australia business.

In GameStop’s preliminary 2021 proxy statement filed late Monday, the company disclosed that Furlong’s total compensation for 2021 was $16.81 million. That total included $115,385 in salary, which was prorated from his agreed on base salary of $200,000.

His total compensation also included a prorated new-hire bonus of $1.59 million, stock awards valued at $14.85 million at the grant date and all other compensation of $250,453, most of which was comprised of relocation benefits.

The total value of the stock awards granted will vest over a four-year period, with the most of the value vesting in the third and fourth years.

Former CEO George Sherman, whom Furlong succeeded, received $652,306 in total compensation in 2021, including $469,615 in salary and $182,691 in all other compensation, which included $138,773 in relocation benefits.

His total compensation for a full-year’s work in 2020 was $7.17 million, which included $1.00 million in base salary and stock awards valued at $6.12 million.

GameStop’s stock went on a wild ride in 2021. After the meme stock rocketed 963.5% from the end of 2020 through June 21, 2021, it then fell 25.9% through the end of 2021. The stock was down 1.2% in afternoon trading Tuesday, and has lost 2.2% so far in 2022. In comparison, the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.07% had run up 12.8% from June 21 through year-end 2021, and has lost 7.0% since then.

Separately, Chief Financial Officer Michael Recupero, also a former Amazon executive who started at GameStop on July 12, 2021, received total 2021 compensation of $11.07 million. That included $103,846 in base pay, $1.13 million in a new-hire bonus and stock awards valued at $9.84 million.

GameStop’s largest shareholder Ryan Cohen, who was voted in as chairman of the board at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in June 2021, received no compensation in 2021, according to the preliminary proxy statement. However, he was the beneficial owner of 9.10 million GameStop shares, or 11.9% of the shares outstanding, as of April 8, 2022.

George Sherman, the CEO of flagging video game retailer GameStop, is leaving the company after only two years, and will step down $170m richer thanks to efforts of Reddit investors.

Mr Sherman will step down from his position at the end of July. During his time, the company saw a loss of $700m and falling sales, largely caused by a growing preference for online retailers and digital purchases of video games. The mall isn’t what it used to be.

However, thanks to the GameStop short sale phenomenon earlier this year, Mr Sherman will depart the company with a lucrative payout.

Mr Sherman was hired in 2019, and despite reigning during the meme stock surge, was unable to meet performance quotas and as a result forfeited $98m worth of stock.

However, he has also been credited with navigating the company through the coronavirus pandemic when other brick and mortar retailers succumbed to the financial strain of lockdowns and fewer in-person customers.

Mr Sherman’s previously served as a top executive at other brick and mortar retailers including Advanced Auto Parts and Home Depot Inc.

The company has not announced who will take over the role once Mr Sherman steps down.

The CEO's departure appears to align with the announcement earlier this month that Ryan Cohen, co-founder and former CEO of pet goods company Chewy Inc, will take over as GameStop's chairman.

Other top executives at the company, including former CFO Jim Bell and former chief customer officer Frank Hamlin, also left the company in recent weeks.

While Mr Sherman will leave with a hefty sweetheart payout, the company's employees will not share in its recent successes on the stock market as the company has been shuttering stores across the country.

In January, the stock skyrocketed from double digits into triple digits thanks to a campaign launched by Reddit investors who sought to counter short-sellers looking to profit on the struggling game retailer's decline.

On Tuesday, the stock sat around $177, still soaring far above its double-digit price prior to the Reddit infusion.

The company cashed in on the recent success by selling off $551m worth of stocks to speed up the company's transition into an e-commerce retailer.

Neither the company nor Mr Sherman have stated why he is leaving the company, but his separation agreement states that he was not leaving due to any “wrongdoing.”

The stock is currently up 891.3 per cent since the beginning of the year.

GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen just bought another 100,000 shares of the video game retailer, bringing his ownership to 11.9% as the activist investor tries to push the company into e-commerce.

The meme stock jumped more than 14% Wednesday, bringing its week-to-date gains to over 55%.

Cohen purchased these shares through his investment company RC Ventures at a cost as low as $96.81 and as high as $108.82 apiece, according to a regulatory filing. Now he owns a total of 9,101,000 GameStop shares.

Cohen cofounded pet-supply retailer Chewy and managed to turn it into a booming business. The investor was tapped by GameStop early last year to serve as chairman of a special committee formed by its board to help its transformation.

Soon after his appointment, GameStop experienced a jaw-dropping short squeeze that sent shockwaves across Wall Street. A band of retail investors came together in online chatrooms, encouraging one another to pile into GameStop's stock and call options to squeeze out short sellers. The stock ended 2021 up more than 680%.

Just two weeks ago, Cohen revealed a big stake in Bed Bath & Beyond and pushed for a turnaround. He wrote a letter to the company board, saying the housewares retailer is struggling to reverse market share losses and navigate supply chain woes.

Prior to joining GameStop in 2013, Angela served in a variety of technology roles spanning software development and support, portfolio and project management, and strategic relationship management at MetroPCS, GTESS, Sprint, Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.