The news: GameStop shares fell more than 15% Thursday after the company fired CEO Matthew Furlong and appointed Ryan Cohen, the board chairman, as executive chairman. Furlong, who previously worked at Amazon's Australian business, was GameStop's sixth CEO since 2017. Cohen, an activist investor and founder of Chewy, joined GameStop's board in January 2021 after acquiring a stake in the company the year before. What happened: GameStop announced Cohen's appointment and Furlong's firing alongside its Q1 financial results. In the quarter ended April 29, the gaming retailer reported $1.2B in net sales, a 10% drop YoY. However, its net loss of $50.5M was a 68% improvement over the same quarter last year. Why it matters: Despite the narrowing losses, GameStop is back in the red months after reporting its first quarterly profit in two years. The company's stock has seen extreme volatility after gaining among retail investors on social media, particularly Reddit's WallStreetBets forum, since early 2021.
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