GameStop is in the news again, as the video game retailer has announced the hiring of a former Amazon executive to become the “Chief Growth Officer” for the store. Elliott Wilke, who was most recently the director of Amazon Fresh Stores, is coming to GameStop with a start-date of April 5, 2021.
Wilke worked at Amazon for eight years, holding high-level positions at Amazon’s Fresh, Prime Pantry, and Worldwide Private Brands divisions. Before that, he worked at Proctor & Gamble for more than a decade, holding a number of marketing roles.
In his new gig at GameStop, Wilke will “oversee growth strategies and marketing, with a focus on increasing customer loyalty and growing the reach of Power Up Rewards and Game Informer.” Wilke will also help expand GameStop’s use of “customer insights and metrics” to help further expand the company’s marketing efforts.
GameStop also announced the hiring of two more executives. Andrea Wolfe is becoming the vice president of brand development. She started on March 29 and was previously the vice president of marketing at the pet food company Chewy; that’s the company founded by billionaire Ryan Cohen, whose investment in GameStop preceded the stock’s Reddit boom.
Additionally, GameStop hired Tom Petersen on March 29 to become the company’s vice president of merchandising. He is also a former Chewy executive, having worked at the company as the VP of merchandising.
GameStop’s share price jumped again after this news broke this morning. The company’s stock price has climbed by more than 8% to around $195, but it has since fallen back down to around $188 at press time. In its press release, GameStop said it’s making these new executive hires to support the company’s “transformation.”
Wall Street personality Jim Cramer reacted to the news on Twitter, saying GameStop is putting together a “dream team” to help turn the ship around. “They must have a plan that is not what we see now,” he remarked.
Gamestop putting together a dream team.. Really impressive.. They must have a plan that is not what we see now
— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) March 30, 2021
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