GameStop shares soar more than 90% in late-afternoon trading

Shares of GameStop surged more than 90% in afternoon trading on Wednesday as traders poured into the brick-and-mortar retailer amid a C-suite shake-up.

Shares had been halted with much less than half-hour left in the trading day.

GameStop introduced Wednesday that its chief monetary officer Jim Bell will resign on March 26.

“Mr. Bell’s resignation was not because of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices, including accounting principles and practices,” the corporate stated in a submitting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sources conversant in the matter told Business Insider that Bell didn’t go away willingly, however was pushed out by Ryan Cohen, co-founder of Chewy who made an funding in GameStop final 12 months in an effort to assist the corporate speed up its push on-line.

Cohen appointment to the GameStop board helped drive the closely shorted inventory upward in January, which resulted in the epic quick squeeze in GameStop that provoked retail trading mania and ultimately consideration from Congress.

“We acknowledge that leadership changes often follow activist settlements and Mr. Bell’s exit was mutual, non-immediate, and suggests no disagreements with company/board,” Jefferies fairness analyst Stephanie Wissink informed shoppers. “We believe Mr. Bell deserves recognition for a series of actions that protected GME equity during the late stages of the last hardware cycle, when sales were down sharply.”

Jefferies added that GameStop will seemingly search for a CFO substitute with a tech, in comparison with retail, background.

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