GameStop Staff Layoffs Are Announced As Chief Financial Officer Leaves

Reports have emerged that GameStop is replacing its Chief Financial Officer and will begin laying off “a number” of staff.

In a memo acquired by Axios‘ Stephen Totilo, GameStop CEO Matt Furlong reportedly wrote that the layoffs are to allow the company to strive for “sustained profitability”. Mike Recupero, current CFO, will be replaced by Diana Jajeh, who is Chief Accounting Officer at the retailer. Recupero was originally brought into GameStop from Amazon just over a year ago.

The reported layoffs are expected to hit not just the retailer, but also video game news outlet Game Informer which is owned by the company. The exact number is not known yet, but the memo states that “a number of reductions” will take place. Game Informer staff members have been posting their disappointment online.

GameStop has been struggling for years, with the pandemic only compounding the difficulties the retailer was facing. Totilo reports that Furlong’s plan is to shift to what he calls an “intense owner’s mentality”. In 2021 and the second half of 2022, the company hired more than 600 staff, but the company has more recently shown interest in the NFT and blockchain market.

2021 also saw GameStop at the centre of a stock market surge thanks to a group of Redditors and more recently, former president of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé — who served on the Board of Directors for GameStop between 2020 and 2021 — criticised the retailer for a lack of an “articulated strategy”.

Furlong states in the memo that “Everyone in the organization must become even more hands-on and embrace a heightened level of accountability for results”. He wants to make more investments in store leaders and employees in the retail area.