GameStop withheld $36 million in stock from its outgoing CEO to cover taxes, filings show
- GameStop withheld $36 million in shares from outgoing CEO George Sherman to cover taxes, an SEC filing shows.
- Sherman will be replaced by Amazon alum Matt Furlong.
- This story has been corrected from its original version.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Sherman realized returns by selling these shares. It has since been corrected to accurately reflect instead that GameStop withheld the proceeds to cover taxes.
GameStop withheld about $36 million in taxes from the company's outgoing Chief Executive Officer George Sherman, a filing shows.
The company witheld the approximately 121,000 shares at the June 9 closing price of $302.56 "to cover applicable withholding taxes," the filing stated.
Sherman, who will be replaced by Amazon alum Matt Furlong, announced his departure in April, and holds 1.3 million shares, the filing showed.
GameStop has seen renewed interest along with other meme stocks recently, and the video-game retailer closed near its January highs last week. Other retail-trader favorites, like AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry, along with new meme stocks like Clean Energy Fuels and ContextLogic, have rallied as well recently.
Meme-stock insiders have been selling shares amid the craze. AMC board members and executives have sold about $13 million worth of shares in the past two weeks alone.
GameStop shares closed at an all-time high of $354 on Jan. 27 when retail traders, mobilized on Reddit's Wall Street Bets, poured into the nostalgic stock in an effort to squeeze short-sellers, costing them billions of dollars. The stock has declined since reaching its four-month high last week and is now trading around $220.
The stock decline came after the company said the Securities and Exchange Commission had requested information as part of its probe into trading of the shares. The video-game retailer also announced it may sell as many as 5 million more shares, further pressuring the stock.
Also last week, the company announced new C-suite executives hailing from Amazon, as activist investor and Chewy cofounder Ryan Cohen looks to make Gamestop into the Amazon of gaming.