🠈 Game Stop 🠊

GameStop

Game Stop is the world's largest provider of video games and entertainment software. Game Stop has over 6600 stores and 17000 employees worldwide.

GameStop traces its history to a software retailer called "Babbage" established in Dallas in 1984. The company went through a rapid series of mergers with stores include Electronics Boutique, FuncoLand and Software, etc along with a brief period of ownership by Barnes and Noble.

The biggest jump in the number of GameStop stores came with the merger between Game Stop and EB Games in 2005.

Corporate headquarters are in Grapevine, Texas. The company trades on the NYSE with the symbol: GME.

Retail Archeology

This video by Retail Archeology visits several stores in Phoenix and speculates about the future of the brand.

Corporate History

This section shows corporate events in the company's rapid merger chain.

1984: James McCurry and Gary M. Kusin started Babbage's named after the mathematician Charles Babbage (1791 – 1871) who helped lay the foundation for computing. The Tucson based company received financing from Ross Perot. They opened the first store in Dallas, Tx.
1994: Babbage's merged with Software Etc. creating NeoStar Retail Group.
History of Software Etc
- 1985: B Dalton booksellers created Software Etc. which sold computer books and software.
1996: NeoStar filed for bankruptcy with 447 stores.²
1996: Leonard Riggio, a cofounder of Software Etc. and principle stockholder of Barnes and Noble, outbid Electronics Boutique in the sale of NeoStar for $58.5 million.
1996: Riggio created the holding company Babbage's Etc.
1999: Babbage's launced the GameStop brand and web site gamestop.com with 30 mall based locations.
1999: Barnes & Noble Booksellers (bn) aquired Babbage's Etc. for $215 million.
2000: BN acquired Funco based in Eden Prairie, Mn. and rebranded the stores GameStop.
2002: BN held an IPO for GameStop on the NYSE with the symbol GME.
2004: GameStop acquired EB Games for $1.44 billion.
2004: GameStop launched a chain of 40 stores called MovieStop
- 2012: GameStop spun off MovieStop.
2007: GameStop acquired Rhino Video Games from Blockbuster.
2008: GameStop acquired 49 stores from Norway-based Free Record Shop which they converted into video game stores.
2010: GameStop acquired San Francisco based Kongregate which hosts online video games.
- 2017: Modern Times Group MT AB of Sweden acquired Kongregate.
2011: GameStop acquired Spawn Labs which allowed people to play games remotely in data centers..
2011: GameStop acquired Impulse which allows distribution of multiplayer games.
2012: GameStop acquired BuyMyTronics based in Denver.
2012: GameStop bought a minority interest in Utah based Spring Mobile which owned Simply Mac and about 90 AT&T Stores. They acquired full interest in 2013.
2013: GameStop acquired 163 Radio Shack stores.
2016: GameStop acquired 507 AT&T stores which they added to Spring.³
2018: Prime Communications acquired Spring Mobile, which had grown to 1289 stores, for $700 million.
2019: GameStop, which had 5,700 stores and declining sales, began to close stores. They shuttered 200 in 2019 with plans for future closures.³
2019: Cool Holdings acquired Simply Mac.
2020: Ryan Cohen (former CEO of Chewy) made a significant investment in GameStop.
2021: The short interest on the stock had risen to over 140% of the stock. Angry investors on Reddit bought the stock creating a short squeeze that caused the stock to rise 600%.

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References:

Wikipedia - GameStop (Drawn 3/25/2017)
NY Times - NeoStar Bankruptcy (Drawn 1/16/2020)
Business Insider - GameStop Store Closures (Drawn 1/16/2020)
GameStop acquires 504 ATT Stores (Drawn 1/16/2020)

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