GameStop shares have increased by 80% in recent days after holiday sales and the addition of three new board members. The increase in share price reached the 30s this week. The hike in price was a huge jump considering it was valued under $19 at the end of last year. This is the highest share price GameStop Corp. has had since November 2015.
The share increase can be attributed to the addition of Chewy Inc. Co-founder, Ryan Cohen, to the video game company’s board of directors. According to Bloomberg, “GameStop shares have climbed as much as 118% in the three days since news of Cohen’s addition to the board.” The pet food industry billionaire has previously commented on how GameStop could turn its company around. He mentioned the retail company’s failure in adapting to the game industry’s transition from physical hardware to streaming, the huge increase in mobile gaming, and a shift from purchasing from massive retailers. Cohen’s addition (along with two other former Chewy executives) to the board of directors at GameStop seemed favorable to Wall Street analysts, who look forward to Cohen’s help in transforming the company into a “digitally-focused retailer.”
Holiday sales are also hiking GameStop’s share price. With GamesRadar reporting, “GameStop announced sales of $1.77 billion for the nine-week holiday period, a modest decrease of 3 percent. However, comparable-store sales rose by 4.8% and digital sales at GameStop surged by more than 300 percent.” GameStop recently made a deal with Microsoft that would allow them a percentage of console sales, in order to make up for the damage of digital versions.