GameStop Q1 sales rise and gets new leadership from Amazon

GameStop has appointed another two Amazon executives to its leadership, with both a new CFO and CEO who previously worked with the retail giant.

The new CFO is Matt Furlong, moving from his previous position as Head of Australian Business for Amazon. He worked with the company for around nine years, but before that worked with Proctor & Gamble for nearly twelve years on marketing, brand, and sales strategies.

Joining GameSpot in the position of CEO is a long-time veteran of Amazon, Mike Recupero. Most recently he’s been serving as VP of Finance and CFO for Amazon’s North American consumer business. Recupero has been with Amazon for seventeen years in total, but has also worked with Koch Industries and Hitachi.

These two new hires bring the total number of ex-Amazon executives now at GameSpot to five since February 2021. Each one is in a C-level position with the company. They join Chief Operating Officer Jenna Owens, Chief Growth Officer Elliot Wilke, and Chief Technology Officer Matt Francis.

As well as reporting these new hires, GameStop also reported its Q1 sales results. For the thirteen weeks ending on May 1, 2021, the company’s net sales stood at $1.28 billion, up by 25 percent year-on-year. Net losses were $66.8 million, a huge drop from $165.7 million last year and a big improvement for the company. Clearly the pandemic hasn’t hit these figures with too much of a harsh comparison period.

GameStop described the bump in sales as overcoming around 12 percent of its reduction in the global store base. With so many store closures over the last couple of years, losses have been seen from the lack of sales that would come from retail outlets.

GameStop hasn’t provided any guidance on future results, but insists that net sales is the best metric to judge success on. May’s net sales are up by 27 percent year-on-year, but there are still losses to recoup for each period. Clearly GameStops leadership changes are working, but the company needs to persevere if it’s going to succeed in the future.