Skip to main content

GameStop fires its CEO

GameStop fires its CEO

/

Matthew Furlong is out as GameStop CEO, while meme stock investor Ryan Cohen is taking on the role of executive chair.

Share this story

An image showing the entrance to GameStop
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

GameStop has fired CEO Matt Furlong, the company announced as part of its first quarter 2023 earnings on Wednesday. There’s no immediate replacement, though board chairman Ryan Cohen has been appointed executive chairman, the company said in a short press release about Furlong’s firing.

Cohen, who founded the e-commerce site Chewy, has invested in a number of “meme stocks,” including GameStop and Bed Bath & Beyond. His surprise sale of Bed Bath & Beyond stock in 2022 raised eyebrows and led to at least one lawsuit accusing him of pumping and dumping the stock. His initial investment in GameStop back in early 2021 led to an enormous rise in the stock and contributed to its status as a memestock beloved by the Reddit sub r/wallstreetbets.

Matthew Furlong was fired on June 5th without cause, the company wrote in the 10-Q. Furlong started at GameStop in June 2021 — which was after the beginning of the chaos with GameStop’s stock price — and he oversaw things like GameStop’s move into NFTs and layoffs at the company.

Furlong joined GameStop after eight years at Amazon; before he left Amazon, he was the leader of the company’s Australia business. As noted at Furlong’s hiring by Reuters, Cohen also brought in Amazon execs to the roles of chief financial officer, chief operations officer, chief technology officer, and chief growth officer. None of those execs are at the company any longer. Former CFO Michael Recupero was fired in July, former COO Jenna Owens left after just seven months in the role, former CTO Matt Francis left in April, and former chief growth officer Elliott Wilke left in September.

GameStop has also made Mark Robinson the company’s new “principal executive officer” with a title of general manager, according to a form 10-Q from the company. Robinson has been at GameStop for nearly eight years, according to his LinkedIn, and he most recently served as the company’s general counsel.

GameStop canceled its earnings call today.

Correction June 7th, 5:46PM ET: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to November layoffs; those layoffs actually took place in July. We regret the error.