Only two days after the largely disappointing Q4 and fiscal year 2020 earnings release, Ryan Cohen has tweeted once again.

This time, it’s another .gif from a comedy, Ted.

What does this tweet mean? Here’s some leading theories, mostly revolving around GameStop bears reactions to the stock gaining over 45% intraday.

  1. We’re getting higher

    • The gif is a bear getting higher. So this would make sense, but, a one-dimensional theory. We must dig deeper.
  2. Bears are fucked, getting choked

    • The most basic of all explanations. We’re getting high and bears are getting fucked. They can’t take the smoke and are getting choked.
    • Bears thought they’d get a smooth hit, can’t even keep it down (for more than a day after earnings).
    •  Now, the bears are coughing up a ton of wasted put premium.
  3. he’s referencing “Gorilla panic” quotes from ted

  1. we could expect news on 4/20

We’ll be sure to update this post as we dig deeper and discover new potential, speculative, meanings. Thanks Ryan for never letting us rest.

Source: Ryan Cohen on Twitter

GameStop Corp. has taken some pointers from Ryan Cohen’s November 2020 Letter to the Board.

Hidden within Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations on GameStop’s latest 10-K report investors receive a brief overview of the steps the company plans to take to reboot in 2021.

While this isn’t an adequate enough roadmap to detail a true transformation, it does acknowledge many of the suggestions investors have made.

GameStop’s latest 10-K report.

GameStop states that it plans on investing in technology capabilities, including by in-sourcing talent and revamping systems. GameStop has also noted that it plans to expand product offerings to better accommodate PC gaming.

The emphasis on customer experience is reminiscent of Chewy, which has, since creation, been acclaimed for stellar support. Ryan Cohen recently personally reached out to a dissatisfied customer, so it is likely this is a top priority of the new management team.

While you can expect GMEdd.com to continue to pick apart the 89-page release in the following days, we recommend our readers glance over it themselves as it provides a look into the company’s financials, initiatives, and leaders.

Source: GameStop Form 10-K


March 25th Editorial Update: Today, GameStop has responded to a tweet asking them, and Ryan Cohen, if they would be expanding greater into the board game market. GameStop responded “We agree! We love games of all kinds and we are excited to expand our selection in the near future.”Source: GameStop on Twitter

While GameStop’s shares fell 33.79% today due to a disappointing but expected Q4 earnings release, the market largely ignored the greatest news of all: RC Ventures is on pace to control GameStop’s board.

In Item 9B. Other Information, the filing reveals that, as of yesterday, the Board has not determined the definitive slate of nominees but currently expects that the following incumbent directors will retire from the Board at the 2021 Annual Meeting: Lizabeth Dunn, Paul Evans, Raul J. Fernandez, Reginald Fils-Aimé, William Simon, James K. Symancyk, Carrie W. Teffner and Kathy P. Vrabeck.

The contemplated retirements are not because of a disagreement with us on any matter relating to our operations, policies or practices.

This indicates that the only remaining board members will be: George E. Sherman, Alan Attal, Ryan Cohen, Jim Grube, and Kurtis J. Wolf.

Alan Attal, Ryan Cohen, and Jim Grube, all of which are former Chewy execs, were the board members put forth in the agreement with RC Ventures.

Kurtis J. Wolf was placed on the board in June 2020 following his Restore Gamestop activism. In May 2020, Hestia Capital Partners LP, Permit Capital Enterprise Fund, L.P, his investment group, issued a detailed 80-page presentation titled “More Change Is Needed,” advocating for stockholder representation and a non-retail centric turnaround.

Kurtis J. Wolf was also recently placed on the Strategic Planning and Capital Allocation Committee, alongside Ryan Cohen and Alan Attal.

It’s safe to assume that Kurtis J. Wolf will be siding with RC on any votes within the board.

With Kathy P. Vrabeck retiring, the Executive Chairman role will be freed up as well. Gotta wonder who will fill that role.

So that leaves the legacy board with only George E. Sherman. Diana Saadeh-Jajeh is currently the interim CFO, but does not hold a seat on the board. It is likely we will see Diana Saadeh-Jajeh retire once a permanent Chief Financial Officer is found as well. You don’t have to look far for who we expect it to be. Diana Saadeh-Jajeh’s retirement will also free up the Chief Accounting Officer position.

With George Sherman remaining as the only legacy board member, the Chief Executive Officer will be outnumbered four to one.

Unless GameStop nominates replacement board members ahead of the 2021 Annual Meeting, we will see the thirteen-member board fall to just five, with RC at the helm

Source: GameStop Form 10-K

In this clip from What’d You Miss? on Bloomberg TV, GMEdd.com co-proprietor Rod Alzmann speaks with Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde and Joe Weisenthal about how GameStop is trying to look past lackluster Q4 results that sent the shares sliding today. Rod also discusses how the company has appointed a trio of new executives with tech experience to its ranks.

Source: Bloomberg 

GameStop Corp. today announced that it has appointed Jenna Owens to the role of Chief Operating Officer. The company has also appointed Neda Pacifico to the role of Senior Vice President of E-Commerce, and Ken Suzuki to the role of Vice President of Supply Chain Systems.

Ms. Owens brings approximately two decades of technology, operations, fulfillment, and supply chain experience to GameStop. Most recently, she was Director and General Manager for Distribution and Multi-Channel Fulfillment at Amazon. Ms. Owens has a start date of March 29, 2021.

Neda Pacifico, Senior Vice President of E-Commerce – Ms. Pacifico, who previously served as Chewy’s Vice President of E-Commerce, has a start date of March 29, 2021. She spent nearly four-and-a-half years at Amazon in a variety of customer insights and marketing roles prior to joining Chewy. In her new role, Ms. Pacifico will lead initiatives in areas that include analytics, UI/UX and product design.  

Ken Suzuki, Vice President of Supply Chain Systems – Mr. Suzuki, who previously served as Zulily’s Vice President of Supply Chain Technology, has a start date of March 29, 2021. He has more than two decades of experience in the e-commerce, informational technology and software engineering areas. In his new role, Mr. Suzuki will be responsible for all systems and software related to GameStop’s supply chain, including order management systems (OMS) and warehouse management systems (WMS).

Source: GameStop News Release

GameStop has reported the much-anticipated results for the fourth quarter ended December 31st, 2020 and fiscal year 2020.

 

Achieved 6.5% Increase in Comparable Store Sales During Fourth Quarter, With Global E-Commerce Sales Increasing 175% for the Fourth Quarter and 191% for Fiscal 2020

Expense Reduction Initiatives Drove $409 Million, or 21%, SG&A Improvement in Fiscal 2020

Strengthened the Balance Sheet and Ended Fiscal 2020 With $635 Million in Total Cash, Laying the Foundation for Transformation

Announces the Appointment of Technology Veteran Jenna Owens as New Chief Operating Officer

 

Global E-Commerce sales (included in comparable store sales) increased 175% and represented 34% of net sales in the fiscal 2020 fourth quarter versus 12% of net sales in the fiscal 2019 fourth quarter.

We’ll be going more in-depth on these results shortly. For now, all eyes are on the conference call @ 5 PM ET. Tune in here.

Source: GameStop News Release

GameStop will report earnings after the market closes on Tuesday, March 23, 2021. This will be followed by an investor conference call at 5:00 pm Eastern

During the Q4 conference, the viewer cap was reached before it had even begun, so tune into GMEdd.com where we will be livestreaming the call for everyone.

Read the full transcript here.

Source: GameStop News Room