GameStop announces layoffs, CFO kicks in the middle of blockchain pressure
The layoffs, which include Game Informer employees, will reportedly help GameStop operate more profitably – giving the new CFO a million-dollar bonus.
GameStop is laying off a number of corporate employees and more Game Informer employees, as the company aims to double the blockchain work, the company’s CEO Matt Furlong announced on Thursday. In a note sent to employees (via CNBC), Furlong said the cuts would “[eliminate] excess costs »so that GameStop could operate more profitably.
In addition to the layoffs, Furlong also announced that GameStop is firing CFO Mike Recupero, a former Amazon boss who started at GameStop barely a year ago. CNBC sources said that GameStop’s chairman Ryan Cohen was responsible for pushing him out, as the board thought Recupero was “too hands-off” and did not fit well into the company’s culture.
Diana Jajeh – the company’s chief accountant – takes over as CFO. Jajehs starts at $ 200,000, and she qualifies for a “transformation bonus” that will eventually amount to $ 1,965,000.
“Change will be constant as we develop our trading business and launch new products through our blockchain group,” said Furlong. “Today we make a number of reductions to help us keep things simple and drive smoothly with the right talent in place.”
Furlong also stated that GameStop would make “a significant investment in [its] Store managers and field employees “, but did not share details or explain what this” investment “might look like.
The CEO identified the company’s interest in blockchain services as a key motivator behind these changes. GameStop announced in May that it would create its own NFT marketplace, as well as its own cryptocurrency wallet service – both of which appear to be the company’s latest attempt to breathe new life into years of financial loss.
However, the NFT market has seen better days – at least at the time of writing. Just last month, NFT sales reached a low of 12 months in the middle of a crash in the cryptocurrency market, which certainly raises a big question as to whether the company’s large blockchain investment will pay off.
It is not yet clear how many employees are affected. Details about which departments have been affected are also vague, but the game journalism Game Informer – which GameStop has owned since 2000 – is one of them. Former assistant editors Wesley LeBlanc and John Carson confirmed on Friday that they were part of the recent layoffs.
GameStop earlier laid off a number of Game Informer employees in 2019. The following year, the withdrawal was affected a new round of layoffs affects six people.
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