Exactly one month after GameStop (GME 29.07%) CFO Jim Bell announced his resignation from the company -- some say he was pushed out the door -- the video game retailer is announcing another executive is leaving.
Chief customer officer Frank Hamlin said he will be resigning from the company effective March 31, a sign, perhaps, the activist investors at GameStop are not finished cleaning house. The retailer is scheduled to report earnings after the market's close today.
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GameStop is a retailer in transition, heavily weighted by an expansive 4,800 physical store footprint. Activist investors appointed to the board of directors have been put in charge of a new committee designed to oversee the retailer's transformation into an e-commerce-focused business.
Director Ryan Cohen, who has called for GameStop to sell off most of its retail stores and recreate itself into the "Amazon of gaming," will head up the new transformation committee. He is being joined by other activist directors to formulate the strategic plan of attack.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month after Bell's resignation announcement that he was really forced out of his role. There have been no indications given yet that Hamlin was under similar pressure, but the announcement said he is leaving with "good reason," which under his employment contract included such provisions as a cut in pay or a material diminution of his authority, duties, and responsibilities.
GameStop is also hiring personnel from outside the company. It recently appointed a new chief technology officer as well as several former Amazon executives for new e-commerce positions.
Shares of the video game retailer are up more than 900% in 2021, fueled mostly by a Reddit-inspired rally in the stock, but also on the hope Cohen and others can change the trajectory GameStop had been on before.
