GameStop shares jump after company announces plans to appoint Ryan Cohen as president

GameStop announced Thursday that Chewy’s co-founder Ryan Cohen will become its chairman following the company’s annual meeting of shareholders, scheduled for June 9.

Shares of the retailer jumped more than 4% in pre-market trading, putting the stock on track to break a three-day losing streak. Stocks have given up some of their sky-high gains since a surge in late January, but are still up more than 870% this year, giving the company a market value of $ 12.8 billion.

Cohen invested in GameStop last year, to push the video game retailer to focus on online sales and shut down unprofitable stores in malls. His involvement in society helped spark the title race earlier this year.

Cohen is also the manager of activist investor RC Ventures.

Kathy Vrabeck is currently the chair of the board of GameStop.

The transition is part of a larger management reshuffle taking place at GameStop as it attempts to turn its business around.

He recently recruited several executives from Amazon, Walmart, QVC and Chewy for senior positions. Chief Marketing Officer Chris Homeister resigned from the company at the end of March. And in February, CFO Jim Bell announced his resignation, as the company sought a successor with more e-commerce experience.

GameStop said in a securities filing Thursday that other new board candidates include Larry Cheng, the first investor in Chewy, and Yang Xu, an executive at Kraft Heinz.

He also appoints current board members Alan Attal and CEO George Sherman.