NEW YORK聽鈥 After GameStop closed about a quarter of its locations within the past year, shuttering 1,000 stores across the world, the company said it鈥檚 not close to done. And as the struggling company closes stores, it will invest cash in cryptocurrencies.
GameStop revealed in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it expects to close a 鈥渟ignificant number鈥 of additional locations in the coming months, although the 鈥渟pecific set of stores has not been identified for closure.鈥
A majority of the closures occurred in its biggest market, the United States, with 590 locations shutting down and reducing its store count to 2,325 as of Feb. 1. More than 330 locations closed across Europe, plus nearly 50 stores in Canada and Australia.
After GameStop closed about a quarter of its locations within the past year, shuttering 1,000 stores across the world, the company said it鈥檚 not close to done. And as the struggling company closes stores, it will invest cash in cryptocurrencies.
Scott Olson/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Globally, 3,203 GameStops remain 鈥 down drastically from its peak of about 6,000 a decade ago.
GameStop has closed hundreds of stores over the past several years because it has struggled to adapt to customers鈥 changing habits of buying games online and streaming. The company was also center of the , which briefly boosted its stock.
GameStop joins a number of other well-known retailers closing stores or completely disappearing, including , , and . Among the reasons contributing to the retail exodus is continuing inflationary pressure on consumers鈥 wallets, pressure from private equity and retailers not quickly adapting to changing shopping habits.
As part of GameStop鈥檚 pivot away from retail, the company also said that it鈥檚 getting into bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, announcing that a 鈥減ortion of our cash or future debt and equity issuances鈥 might be invested in the digital currency.
鈥淭he pivot to bitcoin is really a defense against irrelevance,鈥 Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail told CNN, adding that it鈥檚 鈥渁n odd thing as it鈥檚 basically saying the strategy isn鈥檛 retail but to act as some kind of cryptocurrency investment vehicle.鈥
Nevertheless, the crypto announcement helped juice the stock: GameStop () shares soared 16% in premarket trading Wednesday.
After GameStop closed about a quarter of its locations within the past year, shuttering 1,000 stores across the world, the company said it鈥檚 not close to done. And as the struggling company closes stores, it will invest cash in cryptocurrencies.
