Business

Gamestop calls in liquidator, cementing Irish exit

Video game retailer announced closure of 35 stores in the Republic last year

Gamestop Ireland had been lossmaking in the lead-up to its closure with accumulated losses of €45.5 million having built up at the trading entity. Photograph: Getty Images

Ian Curran
Sun Dec 31 2023 - 11:28

Gamestop has officially called time on its presence in the Republic, appointing a liquidator to its Irish entity months after announcing the closure of its 35 stores here.

The video game retailer, owned by the Texas-headquartered GameStop Corp, has frantically reorganised its global structure in recent years, paring back its physical store network.

In May 2023, the group, which was at the centre of a short squeeze phenomenon in 2021 after an unexpected rise in its share price, confirmed the closure of Irish store network with the loss of more than 200 jobs.

Gamestop Ireland had been loss-making in the lead-up to its closure with accumulated losses of €45.5 million having built up at the trading entity behind its branches in the Republic by the end of January 2023, according to accounts filed in September.

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Recent Companies Registration Office filings show the company declared itself to be solvent in mid-December in advance of the appointment of a voluntary liquidator, Eamonn Richardson of Interpath Advisory, in recent weeks.

A note attached to accounts for GameStop Ltd recently filed says costs connected to the closure are estimated to be approximately €13 million. That included severance costs, reduction in lease liabilities and impairment of right of use assets.

Shares in the US-listed retailer advanced 2 per cent in 2023 amid an executive level shake-up aimed at restoring investor confidence in the company. In September, Gamestop appointed executive chairman and major investor Ryan Cohen after firing its chief executive Matthew Furlong in June.

Gamestop said at the time that Mr Cohen will not receive a salary or compensation in his new role.

Ian Curran

Ian Curran

Ian Curran is a Business reporter with The Irish Times

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