What you need to know
- Reggie Fils-Aimé, former president of Nintendo, is joining GameStop's board of directors.
- The company hopes the board refresh will set it up for "long-term success."
- GameStop has seen a series of layoffs and losses over the past couple of years.
A former Nintendo of America president and figure loved across gaming is joining GameStop. The company announced Monday that Reggie Fils-Aimé has been appointed to the board of directors.
According to a press release, GameStop also appointed William Simon, who has 30 years of experience in retail, including Walmart, and James "J.K." Symancyk, who has been the president and CEO of PetSmart since 2018.
"They are each highly qualified and bring significant, relevant experience to our turnaround. We look forward to immediately benefitting from their expertise and perspectives as we navigate the evolving gaming and retail environments, execute on our strategic initiatives and prepare the Company to maximize value-creation associated with the next generation of console launches later this year," GameStop CEO George Sherman said in a statement.
Fils-Aimé said on Twitter that he was looking foward to the move to help cement a "healthy and vibrant GameStop."
The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant @GameStop. I look forward to being a part of @GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKjThe gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant @GameStop. I look forward to being a part of @GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKj— Reggie Fils-Aime (@Reggie) March 9, 2020March 9, 2020
Fils-Aimé joined Nintendo in 2003 and went on to become one of the faces of the company, along with the subject of many memes. He retired in 2019 and was replaced by Doug Bowser. Besides the new GameStop gig, he's also been a Leader in Residence at Cornell University.
The appointments come after a long search and following the retirement of four directors, effective by June 2020, and two by June 2021. They also come as the struggling company is looking to turn around its strategy for "long-term success," Sherman said.
Last year, GameStop announced it was closing up to 200 stores, with plans to close even more stores over the next two years. Earlier in 2019, the company also laid off 50 field leaders and seven from Game Informer, the gaming magazine GameStop owns.
GameStop has been losing money over the last few years as well, reporting "a loss of $488 million in the third quarter of 2018 despite solid growth from hardware sales and accessories." It also reported losses in the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal full year of around half a billion dollars.
We'll be seeing a lot from GameStop over the next few years as the company works to bounce back. In an IGN report, Frank Hamlin, chief customer officer at GameStop talked about experimental stores, including those with community spaces. Either way it'll be interesting to see if the new board can add to that.
