GameStop nudges into new markets with Spring Mobile acquisition

As revealed this morning in its quarterly earnings call with investors, games retail giant GameStop has acquired the AT&T wireless retailer Spring Mobile for an undisclosed sum. The wireless retail chain operates around 150 locations across the United States and employs about 650 people. It acquired A-Link Wireless this past September, which will also become part of GameStop's purchase. Similar to how its recent acquisition of Apple retailer Simply Mac is intended to bring GameStop closer to the Macintosh market, the Spring Mobile acquisition represents GameStop's intention to invest further into the smartphone and tablet space. "This acquisition provides GameStop an entry into the $170 billion wireless market with one of the nation's fastest-growing operators... while adding significant executive talent in the mobile field to the GameStop team," stated company CEO Paul Raines, who added that further details on the acquisition would become available in the next calendar year. As we reported this morning, GameStop has enjoyed a considerable resurgence in the last three months, going from significant losses to a modest net profit year-over-year. This resurgence, together with promising early retail performance for Sony's and Microsoft's next-generation hardware, positions GameStop to make similar acquisitions like Spring Mobile and Simply Mac going forward.