Can’t Stop GameStop
Address
625 Westport Parkway
Grapevine, TX 76051-6740
Telephone
(817) 424-2000
Internet Homepage
www.gamestop.com
Year Founded
1994
Total Stores
7,174
Total Annual Sales
$9,296,000,000
Senior Executives
Daniel A. DeMatteo- Chairman
J. Paul Raines- CEO
As popular as video games and gaming are now, at the beginning of GameStop’s founding this industry was seen as one with a great, though uncertain potential for growth. Personal computers were similarly at an early stage of household ownership. Apple seemed to be surviving after struggling for its very existence.
Through its first two decades, GameStop has been quick to anticipate trends and jump on opportunities for growth. The company was not assuming that the success of its corporate focus on the growth of its branding of electronic games was inevitable.
GameStop acquired its greatest competitor EB Games (formerly Electronics Boutique) in 2005 for $1.44 billion. More recently the company has grown its competitive games tournament segment, as these competitions gain worldwide stature and are viewed and increasingly financed similarly to major sporting events.
On the retailing front, the company has decided not to place all of its eggs in one gaming basket. The company is eagerly investing in the growth of its Technology Brands segment which includes Spring Mobile stores. Since its acquisition by GameStop, Spring Mobile has become AT&T’s largest authorized reseller.
Always looking for opportunities which seem a natural fit for the company’s increasingly diverse portfolio, GameStop recently won a bidding war to acquire Geeknet, owner of the apparel website ThinkGeek, for $140 million. GameStop now plans to open notably modern brick and mortar retail locations offering collectibles under the ThinkGeek brand.
