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GameStop,  Inc.
Retail Video Games Stores

short history important dates company & subsidiaries a few important people books + movies other media image gallery links

The unprecedented GameStop short-squeeze episode triggered by mass-coordinated buying of GME shares
was mostly due to a tiny minority of 462 most-influential subredditors.

short history goes here

9-28 GameStop named Ryan Cohen its new CEO. The billionaire activist investor, who had been serving as the video game retailer’s executive chairman, will not receive a salary. Cohen first bought a stake in GameStop in 2020 and then joined its board the following year at the height of the meme stock frenzy. Its stock has since cooled off, but better-than-expected revenue in the second quarter may suggest Cohen’s plan to push deeper into e-commerce is starting to take effect.

Gameboard + GameStop Team-Up For Live, In-Store Game Night Experience The 10-City Gameboard Experience Kicks-Off in Oklahoma Ushering In The Next Dimension of Tabletop Gaming and Leveling Up Our Game Nights 12 May 2022 https://peopleofplay.com/blog/gameboard-gamestop-team-up-for-live-in-store-game-night-experience
http://www.gamestop.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop_short_squeeze 2021

Working Minds / Essay #18 "The Stock Market Casino" [Dec 2001]

A  Few  Important  Dates

founded in 1984 by former Harvard Business School classmates merger & bankruptcy may 1996 2000 June: Barnes & Nobel/Babbage's won a bidding was against Electronics Boutique and purchased video game retailer FuncoLand [est. 1988] for $161M. Over the course of its lifespan, FuncoLand operated in 406 locations. 2000 Dec: B&N/FuncoLand merged with Babbage's and formed GameStop. 2005 Oct: GameStop merged with Electronics Boutique / EB Games [est. 1977] in a $1.44B takeover deal. 2021 January: Over the course of four incredible days, Wall Street tycoons had to reckon with a formidable force they barely understood, let alone saw coming: everyday men and women on subreddit group WallStreetBets day-traded the hugely-shorted stock of Gamestop to an inflated value, making millions off the complacent billionaires. Wall Street had its worst week since October amid GameStop chaos; a massive collaboration to buy GameStop stock left the video game retailer up 400 percent this week and 1600 percent this month. Multiple hedge funds closed down after sustaining massive WallStreetBets-driven losses. One of the largest short sellers in the GameStop trade, hedge fund Melvin Capital, was forced to close its position in GME due to GameStop’s soaring valuation. The trading frenzy in GameStop stock and the massive short squeeze dealt a 49% capital loss to Melvin Capital in the first quarter. London-based hedge fund White Square Capital went out of business altogether after making wrong-way bets on GameStop and A.M.C. Entertainment, another popular short seller target. 2021 Friday Jan 29: All three major indexes fell more than three percent over the week; the S&P 500 fell 1.9 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite each fell two percent, their worst spiral since October; investors fear that hedge funds that usually profit off of shorting GameStop stock will have to sell other shares to pay off their losses. 2021 Wed Feb 24: GameStop shares shot up by 103.9 percent after the video-game retailer announced that its chief financial officer, Jim Bell, would resign on March 26. Trading was halted with less than 30 minutes left in the trading day; GameStop shares jumped by another 83 percent in after-hours trading. The company said that Bell's departure 'was not because of any disagreement with the company'; Bell was pushed out by Ryan Cohen, co-founder of online pet-products retailer Chewy, who invested in GameStop last year and pushed for the company to shift its business online; Bell's appointment to the board helped drive up the heavily shorted stock ahead of its sudden trading frenzy. 2021 May: A coordinated short squeeze targeting American hedge funds caused GameStop's stock price to spike. 2022 Jan 28: Release of the "GameStop: Rise of The Players" movie in theaters . 2022 July: Retailer GameStop released its long-awaited NFT marketplace as part of its push into the digital realm. Just one problem: The NFT space is in worse shape than Texas’s power grid. In June, monthly sales of the digital items came in below $1 billion for the first time in a year, while sales volume on the world’s largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, crashed more than 70% in June from the month prior, according to Bloomberg. 2023 Sept 15: Limited U.S. release of the "Dumb Money" docudrama film in theaters, with wide release on September 29. 2023 Sept 28: GameStop named billionaire activist investor Ryan Cohen as its new CEO; he had been serving as the video game retailer’s executive chairman and will not receive a salary. 2024 Monday Feb 1: All three of the main U.S. stock indexes surged. The Dow gained 0.8 percent, while the S&P 500 soared by 1.6 percent, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite soared by nearly 2.6 percent. The market got a boost from strong corporate earnings, which helped offset volatility among stocks such as GameStop. 2024 March: GameStop stock plunged after reporting a drop in sales in the prior quarter and laying off staff. 2024 May 17: Blogger 'Roaring Kitty' returned to social media after a nearly three-year hiatus. His reemergence sent GME stock soaring toward its steepest single-day percentage gain since the great meme stock short squeeze. GameStop’s stock spiked 119% and closed ~74% up thanks to a meme that 'Roaring Kitty' posted on Xtwitter on Sunday. The post quickly garnered millions of views, and fervent members of Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets community of day traders - who have followed Gill’s word to the edge of their savings accounts - began their week by snapping up meme stocks like it’s still pandemic year one. More than 175 million shares of GameStop were exchanged - nearly 30 times the stock’s daily norm over the past year. Trading was paused nine times in 90 minutes due to volatility. About a quarter of all available GameStop shares are being held in short positions, per FactSet. The rally cost short-selling hedge funds ~$1 billion, per S3 Partners. Other meme stocks also jumped, including A.M.C. by ~78% and Reddit by 9%, because a roaring kitty lifts all boats. 2024 May 17: GameStop stock plunged after the recently-reinvigorated meme stock filed to sell 45 million new shares and revealed that sales were down last quarter. 2024 June 3: Keith Gill, aka the meme stock frenzy flagbearer 'Roaring Kitty', sent GameStop shares soaring for the second time in less than a month after his Reddit account posted a screenshot that appears to show his $116 million position in GameStop. His stock and call options could get him close to billionaire status very soon. $GME rose 21% to close at $28, a calmer bump than the mid-May spike spurred on by Gill’s cryptic return to social media, and a far cry from the historic 2,000% rally he led in early 2021 that saw $GME briefly peak at $483. The screenshot of Gill’s holdings shows call options that will let him buy 12 million shares for $20 each on or before June 21. If Gill executes on these calls (which are only beneficial if the stock’s price stays above $20), Gill would own 17 million shares in total, worth almost $700 million based on the June 3 price – that would make Gill the fourth-largest GameStop shareholder. 2024 June 7: Shares in GameStop crashed by 40 percent after blogger 'Roaring Kitty' said nothing particularly interesting in a highly-anticipated live stream. 2024 June 13: The computer servers for GameStop’s annual shareholder meeting crashed due to overwhelming interest.

      
Gamestop retail video game stores
[founded as Babbage's in 1984, renamed 1999]
headquarters in Grapevine, Texas • official website
official GME common stock listing at NASDAQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop_short_squeeze 2021

GameStop official website
shopping GameStop online - Toys & Games Dept. (action figures, plush)
shopping GameStop online - GameStop Pro Dept. (rewards, discounts, exclusive deals, news)
shopping GameStop online - Clothing Dept. (t-shirts, hoodies, hats)
shopping GameStop online - Collectibles Dept.

As-of 28 January 2023, the company operated 4,413 stores including 2,949 in the United States Division,
216 in the Canada Division, 419 in the Australia Division, and 829 in the Europe Division.

Subsidiaries

Electronics Boutique / EB Games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB_Games [est. 1977, merger 10/2005]

Game Informer Magazine - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Informer [est. 1991] http://www.gameinformer.com/

Geeknet [est. 11/1993, purch 7/2015] specialists in Linux - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geeknet

Micromania-Zing of France [est. 1983, purch 2008, merger 2017] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromania-Zing

Rhino Video Games of Florida [1989-2007] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_Video_Games

ThinkGeek [est. 7/1999, sold 11/1999, purch 6/2015, closed 2021] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkGeek

ZiNG Pop Culture Australia [est. 5/2014] - div of EB Games AU & GameStop

A Few Important People

Jim Bell, appointed CFO 6/2019, left the company on 3/2021

billionaire activist investor Ryan Cohen - investor 2020, named executive chair 6/2021; named CEO 9/2023

Daniel DeMatteo, pres Software Etc.; prom pres/COO NeoStar 2/1995; resigned 6/1996; GameStop's executive chairman named interim CEO 5/2018

Richard Fontaine

former Amazon executive Matt Furlong - apptd CEO 6/2021, removed 6/2023

?? Kim, CEO - replaced in 3/2019

Gary M. Kusin, co-founder of Babbage's in 1984

Michael K. Mauler, GameStop CEO Feb-May 2018

James McCurry, co-founder of Babbage's in 1984; chair/CEO NeoStar 2/1995, added pres 5/1996

Mike Recupero, apptd CFO 6/2021, fired 7/2022

Leonard Riggio, co-founder & chairman of Software Etc.; purch NeoStar 11/1996

Diana Saadeh-Jajeh, chief accounting officer, prom CFO 7/2022

George Sherman - apptd CEO in 3/2019, stepped down 7/2021

GameStop executive Mark Stanley

blogger 'Roaring Kitty' (real name Keith Gill)
the bandana-wearing day trader who triggered the squeeze in 2021
60637 {sic} Seventh Avenue, New York, NY, United States, New York
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552219272960

Books  About  GameStop

		"GameStop, Robinhood, and The Death of The Short Seller: How An Online Forum Shook Wall Street To Its Core" for Kindle [2021] by Noah Jacobs 54-page Kindle Edition from EVO Trading Club/Ovidysus [3/2021] for $2.99 During January 2021, a group of Reddit users (r/WallStreetBets) made global news for their part in a series of short squeezes on 'meme stocks', including GameStop, AMC, Nokia, and more; this bitesized book includes their story, the tale of the institutions involved, and discussion of the long term impact on markets. Full of charts, graphics, and relevant tweets, the book is designed to be readable by anyone.
		"GameStonk!: The Wild Rollercoaster Ride of GameStop - The Epic Battle of Main Street vs. Wall Street" [2021] by Jennifer Voitle When new board members vowed to take GameStop into the future, Reddit traders noticed that hedge funds had been shorting the stock to extreme levels, and retail investors continued to buy: by the end of January, there was a massive run up in GameStop's stock price . . . Kindle Edition from indep [6/2021] for $9.99 indep 9x6 pb [6/2021] for $14.95
		"The Big Squeeze: The GameStop Story" for Kindle [2021] by John Stonks Kindle Edition from indep [6/2021] for $4.95 An educational non-fictional narrative documenting the story behind how GameStop and its stock $GME rose to popularity; details how Ryan Cohen took on the challenge of turning around a dying brick-and-mortar company to become a competitor in the e-gaming & tech sector, and how an online group of amateur investors stood up against malicious short-sellers who were attempting to bankrupt the company.

"The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and The Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street To Its Knees" [2021] by Ben Mezrich The definitive take on the wildest story of the year - the David-vs.-Goliath GameStop short squeeze - a tale of fortunes won and lost overnight that may end up changing Wall Street forever publisher official bookpage • book entry at Wikipedia Kindle Edition from Grand Central Publng [9/2021] for $11.99 Grand Central Publng 8x5¼ pb [5/2022] for $17.99 Grand Central Publng 9½x6½ hardcover [9/2021] for $22.49 HarperCollins 9½x6¼ hardcover [9/2021] for $24.35 Chinese-language edition Shang Zhou Chu Ban pb [3/2022] import/used

"The Revolution That Wasn't: GameStop, Reddit, and The Fleecing of Small Investors" [2022] by Spencer Jakab, Wall Street Journal columnist The story of financial titans like Gabe Plotkin of hedge fund Melvin Capital, one of the most respected and staid funds on Wall Street, billionaires like Elon Musk, Steve Cohen, Mark Cuban, Robinhood co-CEOs Vlad Tenev & Baiju Bhatt, and Ken Griffin of Citadel Securities. Over the course of four incredible days, each in their own way had to reckon with a formidable force they barely understood, let alone saw coming: everyday men and women on WallStreetBets like nurse Kim Campbell, college student Jeremy Poe, and the enigmatic Keith 'RoaringKitty' Gill, whose unfiltered live-stream videos captivated a new generation of stock market enthusiasts Kindle Edition from Portfolio [2/2022] for $4.99 Portfolio 9¼x6 pb [2/2022] for $28.47 Portfolio 9¼x6¼ hardcover [2/2022] for $27.99 Chinese-language Kindle Edition from China Culture Publng [4/2023] for $9.99

		"WallStreetBets vs. Hedge Funds: The Rise and Fall of GameStop Stock and The Meme Stock Wave" [2022] by veteran market observer Cyrano Brixton With the events of January 2021 now in the rearview mirror, author examines what really happened, providing vital background information and taking the reader through the entire saga in detail 78-page Kindle Edition from indep [4/2022] for $9.99 59-page indep 9x6 pb [4/2022] for $12.99
		"GameStop: A Step By Step Guide To Financial Freedom - How An Online Forum Shook Wall Street To Its Core" [2022] by Herbert Davis At the beginning of 2021, a coordinated trading plan began to unfold costing hedge funds on Wall Street billions of dollars; the largest retail trading platform got caught in the crossfire between its investors and its clients; the trading platform's reputation was tarnished, some traders fell into a newfound fortune, while others lost everything Regina Loviusher 8x5 pb [10/2022] for $19.95
		"La Gran Apuesta En GameStop: Y Cómo Wallstreetbets Sorprendió Al Mundo (The Big Bet On GameStop: And How Wallstreetbets Surprised The World)" [2023] by Ricardo Cebrián Salé Spanish-language account of the time when a Reddit forum surprised the world by bringing one of the most powerful American hedge-funds, Melvin Capital, to its knees. 52-page Kindle Edition from indep [9/2023] for $2.99 79-page indep mass pb [9/2023] for $8.99
		"Power To The Players: The GameStop Phenomenon and Why It's Only Getting Started" [2023] by Rob Smat Witness firsthand the real and utterly ludicrous hivemind that brought Wall Street to its knees Kindle Edition from Gaudium Publng [11/2023] for $10.99 Gaudium Publng 9x6 hardcover [11/2023] for $26.62

"When The Apes Came To Town: Apes Together Strong - The GameStop Saga   On r/wallstreetbets" picture book [2024] by A. Saru A fun recap that dives into the the zany story of how in just a few wild days internet traders of the r/wallstreetbets subreddit turned the stock market on its head with the GameStop short squeeze 39-page indep 8¼x6 pb [6/2024] for $13.99

Movies  About  GameStop

"GameStop: Rise of The Players" documentary
[Goodlight/Neon Jan 2022]

Video game retailer GameStop stock rose over 2500% in January 2021 amidst a wild flurry of volatility - the David and Goliath story of a band of contrarians who bucked conventional wisdom to bet on themselves, their own research, and a business that Wall Street had given up on • Co-produced & directed by Jonah Tulis; featuring Rod Alzmann, Farris Husseini, Justin Dopierala, Dmitriy Kozin, Jenn Kruza, Keith 'Roaring Kitty' Gill, Andrew Left, Joe Fonicello, Abbe Minor, Tom Barton, Ryan Hogue, Jeff Tarzia; with archive footage of: William Ackman, Russell Brand, capitalist Warren Buffett, Tucker Carlson, Kurt Cobain, Ryan Cohen, Marc Cohodes, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, TV host Jim Cramer, TV journalist Chris Cuomo, Tom Emmer, Eddie Farrer, Vito Gesualdi, Kenny G, Paul Giamatti, Michelle Griego, Ken Griffin, Gordon Hurd, Colin Jost (S.N.L.), Joe Kernen, Vladimir Lenin, Damian Lewis, Richard Masucci, capitalist Charlie Munger, gazillionaire Elon Musk, Conan O'Brien, Alexis Ohanian, Kevin Paffrath, Charles Payne, Cong. Nancy Pelosi, Leslie Picker, Gabe Plotkin, Dave Portnoy, Carl Quintanilla, rapper Ja Rule, Scott Shellady, Max Shockley, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Brian Sozzi, Graham Stephan, Vladimir Tenev, Shawn Van Buren, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Cong. Maxine Waters, Boyce Watkins • credits at IMDb • official website • movie entry at Wikipedia Decal Neon color DVD [6/2022] for $15.99 watch 1/2022 official trailer [1:38] online at YouTube watch full movie [4/2022 upload; 1:34:01] online at YouTube

"Gaming Wall St." docuseries [HBOmax March 2022]

taglkine: How the public gamed a system rigged against them; Kieran Culkin narrates this two-part docuseries exploring the historic 2021 short squeeze of GameStop and how a group of armchair investors and online vigilantes ultimately helped expose the dark under-belly of Wall Street • Co-produced by Max Deml & others; co-written & directed by Tobias Deml; co-produced & co-written by Tessa Byford; co-written by Elyza Halpern & David Sigura; narrated by Kieran Culkin; featuring Keith 'Roaring Kitty' Gill, Harvey Pitt, Kaspar Povilanskas, Josh Merrill, Wes Christian, Austin Rau, Tom Cooperman, Tayler Wilbourn, Tobin Mulshine, Ramona Ortega, Matt Kimbro, Dennis Kelleher, David Wenger, John Fichthorn, Jason Howell, Jennifer Merrill, Quentin Howell, Bella Howell, Dan Knight, Georgina Ortega, Susanne Trimbath, Cristina Jacuzzi, Anil Kumar, Liz Bertang full credits at IMDb • official movie site { broken/unsecure 6/2024 } • movie entry at Wikipedia Amazon Instant Video [12/2021] offerred free with signup to HBOmax

"Eat The Rich: The GameStop Saga" mini-series
[Netflix streaming Sept 2022]

three episodes, total 109 minutes; a look at the layers of intrigue, from the supercharged power of digital communities to the gamifi-cation of trading • Directed by Theo Love; written by Avi Zev Weider; featuring Daniel Wilson, Diana Wilson, Peter Sasaki (Odeon Capital Advisors), Bob Sloan (S3 Partners), Mikey Guggenheim, Prof. Vicki Bogan (Cornell University), Rachael Sassara, Erik Hess, Gunjan Banerji (Wall Street Journal), Matt Kohrs, Alvan Chow, Angelica Tecson, Joe Fonicello, Taylor Lorenz (Washington Post), Andrew Left (Citron Research), Abbe Minor, Prof. Gina-Gail Fletcher (Duke University), TV host Jim Cramer, Eddie Koo, Austin Tobitt, Jason Mudrick (Mudrick Capital Management), Ray Buffer, Bryan Mittelstadt, Julia-Ambra Verlaine (Wall Street Journal), Prof. Andrew Metrick (Yale School of Management), Chris Ream, Alexis Goldstein (Open Markets Institute), Cong. Cindy Axne (Dem, Iowa), Sen. Pat Toomey(GOP, PA), Dennis Kelleher (Better Markets), Desmund Delaney, Nobel-laureate Robert Shiller, Prof. Scott Galloway (NYU) • full credits at IMDb • no entry at Wikipedia DVD/Blu-ray not available • watch 9/2022 official trailer [1:51] online at YouTube

GameStop meme stock movie "Dumb Money" coming out Sept 2023
the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich
by turning mall videogame chain GameStop into the world's hottest company; two of the executive producers of the film are the famous Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt13957560/

Other  Media

September 2021 article "An in-depth timeline of the GameStop short squeeze saga" on The Street website

Elsevier / Science Direct / Economics Letters article "The role of Reddit in the GameStop short squeeze", February 2022

Image  Gallery

L i n k s
'toy' entry at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrogaming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Developers_Conference
browse the Video Games Dept. {returns over 60,000 items} at Amazon

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