Online game retailer GameStop has not too long ago been closing shops throughout the U.S. The corporate isn’t stopping with its most up-to-date set of closures from January as it’s at present making ready to shut a “important” quantity of shops within the close to future.
GameStop closing extra shops in favor of Bitcoin funding
GameStop disclosed its determination to shut extra shops in a latest submitting. Whereas specifics on which shops will probably be impacted are usually not given as the corporate at present started a “complete retailer portfolio optimization assessment,” it does verify it anticipates a “important quantity” of closures within the 2025 fiscal yr.
“We’ve got additionally initiated a complete retailer portfolio optimization assessment which entails figuring out shops for closure based mostly on many components, together with an analysis of present market situations and particular person retailer efficiency,” says GameStop within the submitting. “This assessment, amongst different issues, resulted within the closure of 590 shops in the USA in fiscal 2024. Whereas this assessment is ongoing and a selected set of shops has not been recognized for closure, we anticipate closing a major variety of extra shops in fiscal 2025.”
As GameStop plans to shut extra shops inside the fiscal yr, the corporate introduced it is going to put money into cryptocurrencies, together with Bitcoin, as a treasury reserve asset.
“On March 25, 2025 we introduced that, as a part of our revisions to the Funding Coverage, the Board authorized the addition of Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, whereby a portion of our money or future debt and fairness issuances could also be invested in Bitcoin,” reads the corporate’s assertion. “We’ve got not set a most quantity of Bitcoin we might accumulate, and will promote any Bitcoin we might purchase.”
GlobalData Retail analyst Neil Saunders mentioned this transfer with CNN saying, “The pivot to Bitcoin can be a protection towards irrelevance.” He continues saying it’s “an odd factor because it’s principally saying the technique isn’t retail however to behave as some type of cryptocurrency funding automobile.”
(Supply: CNN)