GameStop, like Tesla, to seek stock split approval

Video game retailer says the move will provide flexibility for 'future corporate needs'

GameStop is gearing up for a stock split sending the shares higher on Friday. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
GME GAMESTOP CORP. 10.42 +0.11 +1.07%

The video game retailer plans to seek stockholder approval at its upcoming annual meeting to increase the total number of authorized shares from 300 million to 1 billion in order to implement a stock split in the form of a dividend, it disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission also noting that the move will provide flexibility for "future corporate needs." 

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GameStop also plans to request approval for a new incentive plan that will support future compensatory equity issuances. If the 2022 Equity Plan is approved, 8 million shares of the company's stock and any shares subject to the previous 2019 plan that expire, are forfeited, canceled, terminated or settled in cash after the new plan takes effect will be available for issuance.

"GameStop’s Board of Directors has approved both stockholder proposals, but the stock dividend will be contingent on final Board approval," the company emphasized. 

Cohen joined GameStop's board in January 2021 after RC Ventures amassed a 13% stake in the video game retailer. In June 2021, he was elected as GameStop's board chairman.  (Wikipedia Commons / Getty Images CC BY-SA 2.0 )

GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen, who is working to transform the company into an e-commerce behemoth, has amassed an 11.9% stake after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares through his investment firm, RC Ventures. 

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GameStop's plan to request a stock split follows a similar announcement made by Tesla earlier this week.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TSLA TESLA INC. 147.05 -2.88 -1.92%

On Monday, the electric vehicle maker said it would request shareholder approval to authorize additional shares in order to enable its second stock split in two years, though it did not specify when the stock split would take place or what the ratio of shares would be. Tesla previously approved a 5-to-1 stock split in August 2020.