GameStop has announced the firing of one of its top executives, along with other staff. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the video game retailer stated that Chief Financial Officer Michael Recupero is “terminated” without cause, effective immediately. Recupero’s tenure as GameStop CFO was fairly short-lived; he began serving in the role just back in June 2021.
Per the filing, Diana Saadeh-Jajeh, the company’s Senior VP and CAO, has assumed the CFO role. The filing continues to state that Saadeh-Jajeh will receive a starting annual salary of $200,000 but will also be eligible for a transformation bonus in an aggregate amount of $1,965,000.
In addition to Recupero’s termination, GameStop has laid off a number of staffers, primarily at its Grapevine, Texas office. John Carson and Wesley LeBlanc, both associate editors at the GameStop-owned magazine Game Informer, were among those let go. “I was asked to wait a day to say anything officially, so here it is. Unfortunately, I am part of the GameStop layoffs and am no longer employed at Game Informer as of yesterday. I’ll cherish my time there and the people I worked with even more,” tweeted Carson.
Last month, GameStop released its earnings results for Q1 2022. The company posted an overall loss of $157.9 million, which follows on the heels of a $67 million loss for the same period last year. In recent months, the company has stated that it wants to refocus away from “decaying” traditional brick-and-mortar stores into a more “technology-led organization.” This focus on technology includes NFTs and cryptocurrency, as the GameStop NFT marketplace is set to launch later this year.
