GameStop just hired an Amazon vet as its new chief technology officer

• Ailing video game retailer GameStop just hired an Amazon vet as its new chief technology officer.
• GameStop is attempting a transition from brick-and-mortar retail to Amazon-like e-commerce giant.
• Former AWS engineering lead Matt Francis will oversee "e-commerce and technology functions" at GameStop.

Ailing video game retailer GameStop just made another big move in its attempt to become the Amazon of gaming.

The company hired former Amazon Web Services engineering lead to its newly created c-suite role of chief technology officer, it announced on Wednesday morning.

Newly appointed CTO Matt Francis appears to be charged with spearheading the retailer's transition from a brick-and-mortar company to an e-commerce giant. "At GameStop, Mr. Francis will be responsible for overseeing e-commerce and technology functions," the company said in a press release on Wednesday morning.

Francis' hiring is the latest move in an ongoing push from GameStop investor and board member Ryan Cohen, the founder and former CEO of Chewy, to push further into e-commerce.

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The re-invention of GameStop is the latest project from Cohen and his venture firm, RC Ventures, following the sale of Chewy to PetSmart in 2017 for $3.35 billion. Cohen previously bought up a sizable chunk of GameStop shares, accumulating over 12% of the company by December 2020 and sending stock value soaring.

In September 2020, when Cohen initially purchased a significant chunk of the company's shares, he proposed a plan to the board to focus GameStop on ecommerce opportunities. One example of those opportunities is tied to GameStop's core business, reselling used games. Cohen reportedly proposed an online version of the retailer's well-known game trade-in program.

In recent weeks, GameStop's stock value exploded as a group of Redditors bid up the price in an effort to squeeze short-sellers at a few major hedge funds. Between January 20 and January 26 alone, GameStop's stock value leaped from just over $35 per share to north of $140 per share. By January 27, it hit new highs of over $325 per share - an over 8,000% increase from just a few months ago.

The company's stock value has returned to some semblance of normalcy in the last few days, with the price dropping below $100 per share on Tuesday for the first time weeks.

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