GameStop COO leaves after seven months on the job
By Ramishah Maruf, CNN Business
GameStop chief operating officer Jenna Owens is leaving the company seven months after joining it, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The Texas-based company did not specify why Owens was leaving. The filing said both parties entered a separation agreement which went into effect on October 25.
Owens could not be reached. GameStop did not reply to a request for comment from CNN Business.
GameStop, a video game and consumer electronics retailer, caught everyone’s attention early this year when amateur investors on Reddit targeted the “meme stock,” sending its shares soaring. At the time, GameStop was being “shorted” by hedge funds — they were selling borrowed shares with the hope the price would drop — but the Reddit traders fueled a “short squeeze,” which occurs when short-sellers have to repurchase the shares they borrowed because the stock price is rising.
The company’s share price rose approximately 2,700 from its intraday low on January 8 to its intraday high on January 28, followed by a decrease of over 86% from that day to early February, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission report published in October.
The company has since hired several people for key management positions in an effort to transform itself into an e-commerce retailer. Chewy.com founder Ryan Cohen was confirmed as chairman of the company’s board in June, and later that month the company announced the hiring of two former Amazon executives, Matt Furlong as CEO and Mike Recupero as CFO.
GameStop (GME) has said it wants to transition from a struggling brick-and-mortar video game retailer into an e-commerce powerhouse.
Owens is a former executive of Amazon and Google. She could not be reached for comment.
The filing said her responsibilities would be absorbed by other executives at the company, adding Owens is entitled to severance benefits, including six months base pay and the remaining portion of her signing bonus.
GameStop closed at $183.51 per share on Friday. In January, it reached a high of $347 per share.
CNN’s Clare Duffy contributed to this report.
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