GameStop Shuffles Senior Management, Appoints COO

The board of directors for retailer GameStop announced that chairman and CEO Richard Fontaine will relinquish his CEO role to Daniel DeMatteo, the company's COO and vice chairman. Fontaine, who has worked at the company as chairman and CEO since 1996, will concentrate his focus on international operations, acquisition opportunities, and strategic development as executive chairman. J. Paul Raines, Home Depot's former executive vice president of U.S. Stores, will become the company's new COO, effective September 7th. Prior to Home Depot, Raines spent four years in global sourcing for L.L. Bean and 10 years with Kurt Salmon Associates in their consumer products group. GameStop explained the reorganization of its senior management as a natural evolution resulting from its growth and worldwide brand expansion. Currently, the company operates 5,557 retail stores in 16 countries worldwide. The company recently reported record second quarter sales, with net earnings up 162.1 percent to $57.2 million. For the three months ended August 2nd, sales increased by 34.8 percent to $1.80 billion. GameStop raised its full-year guidance, now expecting comparable store sales for the fiscal year ending March 2009 to grow between 12 and 14 percent, with total company sales up 23 to 25 percent. Says DeMatteo: "These moves are a natural evolution of our growth and potential, and I am excited about this opportunity. We are also extremely pleased to have Paul Raines join our executive team as COO. He brings a wealth of retail operations expertise and has an impressive track-record with executing strategies to support the customer experience and drive positive results. We’re fortunate to have such a high caliber retail executive join GameStop."