Serving on GameStop’s board of directors was just one of long time video game executive Reggie Fils-Aimé’s post-Nintendo of America pastimes, but less than a year into his tenure the company announced it expects him to step down in June.
Fils-Aimé is one of eight other board members set to be replaced at GameStop’s 2021 Annual Meeting of shareholders in the summer, including former CEO of Walmart US William Simon and PetSmart president and current PetSmart CEO James Symancyk, according to an SEC filing earlier this week. “Turnover among our Board may disrupt our operations, our strategic focus or our ability to drive stockholder value,” the company writes in the filing. “If we fail to attract and retain new skilled personnel for our Board, our business and growth prospects could disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our operations and business.”
The former head of Nintendo of America was first named to GameStop’s board, an advisory position with a nice pay check attached to it, last March, a year after announcing he would be retiring from the console manufacturer after 15 years of working there. “The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop,” he wrote on Twitter at the time. “I look forward to being a part of [the GameStop board of directors] and helping to make this happen.”
What followed was one of the most tumultuous years in the company’s history, due to the rise of digital game sales, the onset of the global pandemic, boardroom battles and most recently a meme stock frenzy that increased the value of GameStop by billions of dollars overnight.
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Fils-Aimé hasn’t spoken publicly about issues at the company since he joined. Neither has GameStop for that matter. CEO George Sherman provided very little additional insight during the company’s earnings call this week, the first since it had taken off as a meme stock, declining to answer questions or provide any meaningful details on what the company’s future plans are.