Game Retailer GameStop Says It Can't Sell Itself, Sees Stock Drive 27 Percent (arstechnica.com)

GameStop announced today that it has called off a decision to find a private buyer for the company and its subsidiaries. "The announcement ushered in the public company's largest stock-value dip in over 10 years, seeing it plummet in one day from $15.49 to (as of press time) $11.28 -- a dive of roughly 27 percent," reports Ars Technica. From the report: The Texas-based gaming retailer had been linked to acquisition rumors, as The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that multiple private equity firms had been circling GameStop -- and its subsidiaries, including the merch-focused ThinkGeek and the gaming magazine Game Informer. That report had suggested a deal might close by mid-February.

However, Tuesday's statement indicated that prospective deals fell through "due to the lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquirer." The rest of the statement offers little clear hint of the company's next steps beyond pumping the cash from a recent subsidiary sale into options such as "reducing the company's outstanding debt, funding share repurchases, or reinvesting in core video game and collectibles businesses to drive growth."

Comments

Re:Bricks and Mortar Game Shops Would Sell More Go

[Anonymous Coward]

Went to buy a vr headset for my PS4 and the sales people didn't know anything about them, couldn't tell me why there were 2 types, had no demo model to try. Those are literally the only reason why I went down there otherwise I would have bought online. So Train your employees, have demo models, or I will just buy online because I might as well not leave the house.

Re:Prospective Buyers actually make sense

[Locke2005]

The game manufactures DO NOT WANT anyone to resell used games, it cuts into their profit margins! Therefore, they are likely to do things to screw over the sellers of used games, as I am sure Game Stop discovered.