GameStop climbs as Ryan Cohen-led revamp continues with hire of Amazon exec as chief growth officer

• Shares of GameStop rose 5% on Tuesday after the company announced the appointment of Elliott Wilke as chief growth officer.
• Wilke will join the company on April 5 after a seven-year stint with Amazon.
• GameStop also named Andrea Wolfe as vice president of brand development and Tom Petersen as vice president of merchandising.
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Shares of GameStop rose 5% on Tuesday after the video game retailer announced the appointment of Elliott Wilke as chief growth officer, boosting the company's to pivot to e-commerce driven by board member and former Chewy CEO Ryan Cohen.

Wilke will join the company on April 5 after a seven-year stint with Amazon where he held senior roles in Amazon Fresh, Prime Pantry, and Worldwide Private Brands. At GameStop, he will oversee growth strategies and marketing, with a focus on increasing customer loyalty.

GameStop also named Andrea Wolfe, former Chewy vice president of marketing, as vice president of brand development, and Tom Petersen, former Chewy vice president of merchandising, as vice president of merchandising. Both executives started on March 29.

Cohen has been vocal about turning the video game retailer that was at the center of the Reddit-trader phenomenon into an e-commerce powerhouse.

GameStop, "needs to evolve into a technology company that delights gamers and delivers exceptional digital experiences," Cohen wrote in the letter, "not remain a video game retailer that overprioritizes its brick-and-mortar footprint and stumbles around the online ecosystem."

The Grapevine, Texas-based company earlier in March also named Jenna Owens, a former Amazon executive, as chief operating officer. Owens also used to work at Google.

GameStop's appointment of Wilke and other industry veterans marks yet another recruitment by the once-struggling video game retailer ever since the mania in January. The company-which sells video game hardware, video game accessories, electronics products, among others-found itself suffering as more people download games, significantly reducing customer footprint in physical stores.

Despite the massive hype, the video game retailer's fourth-quarter earnings last week missed Wall Street's estimates in the first financial report since the Reddit-driven rally.