The reactions to the spike in GameStop’s stock prices seem to be winding down. One might assume that means it's back to business as usual despite the ongoing federal investigations. However, there is more news from the company as GameStop’s Chief Financial Officer announced his plans to step down.
CFO and Executive Vice President Jim Bell announced his resignation from both positions in a press release Tuesday. His departure from GameStop becomes official on March 26, 2021.
Bell’s decision to step down may come as a surprise given the briefness of his tenure at GameStop. The former US naval officer took over the positions in June 2019. Before that, Bell worked as CEO of restaurant industry giant Wok Holdings, the parent company of P.F. Chang’s among other brands. Less than two years later, he is out the door for undisclosed reasons. Still, the brevity of Bell’s time at GameStop does not mean it was uneventful, and not just because of the recent Reddit-induced spike in the company’s stock prices.
The slow decline of brick-and-mortar retailers is well known and often publicized. GameStop is no exception, having closed hundreds of stores as part of an ongoing restructuring plan. The company tasked Bell with overseeing the transitional period, only for the COVID-19 pandemic to inflict more damage to the profitability of physical retailers. It was Bell’s responsibility to manage the company’s finances as it weathered the storm.
Neither GameStop nor Bell gave a reason for his leaving the company. It is also not clear where he’s heading now, or who will be replacing him as Executive VP. However, the company has announced that Chief Accounting Officer Diana Jajeh will serve as interim CFO. She will assume the role on March 26, unless GameStop appoints a permanent replacement before that deadline.
It’s not clear if Bell’s resignation is related to GameStop’s stock situation. Described by Gamasutra as a “stock market war,” it saw an organized faction of Reddit users inflating GameStop’s stock price artificially. The Redditors were primarily motivated by punishing professional stock traders for taking advantage of struggling businesses. The incident saw GameStop’s stock prices rising to over $350 a share, costing short sellers a reported $3.3 billion, according to Business Insider.
There is no hard evidence to confirm whether the ensuing controversy contributed to Jim Bell’s resignation from GameStop. Still, the timing is likely to raise more than a few eyebrows.
Source: Gamasutra, Business Insider