Gamestop has ousted its CEO, Matt Furlong, who was instrumental in the company’s foray into the nonfungible token (NFT) market. Ryan Cohen, a billionaire investor popular among memestock traders, has been appointed Executive Chairman, following the announcement of Furlong’s departure.
Details surrounding Furlong’s termination were not made public, but an SEC filing disclosed that his contract included a commitment of 24 months of continued employment. He also stepped down from the company’s board, reducing its size to five members.
The announcement coincided with Gamestop’s Q1 earnings call, where the company reported earnings per share (EPS) that fell short of market expectations by over 133%. This report led to a 19% drop in the company’s shares, which are now trading at $21 after hours, as per Google Finance data.
Furlong was appointed as GameStop’s CEO in June 2021, shortly after the memestock event that led to a 3000% surge in GameStop shares, rising from $17.25 to $500 within a month.
Under Furlong’s leadership, GameStop launched its NFT marketplace in June 2022, amidst dwindling interest in NFTs. The company then integrated blockchain game NFTs into its marketplace through a partnership with the Web3 gaming platform and Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, ImmutableX.
Despite the initially positive reception, with nearly $2 million in sales within the first 24 hours of launch, the platform’s performance soon deteriorated. By August, daily sales volumes on the marketplace had plunged to around $4,000, reflecting a 99.8% decrease from its debut day.
