GameStop Corp. declared a 4-for-1 stock split Wednesday, sending shares of the videogame retailer 8.66% higher in after-hours trading.
The Grapevine, Texas-based company proposed a stock split in March, although it didn't set the split ratio at that time because it needed shareholders to increase the number of authorized shares. Shareholders approved the increase last month.
GameStop stockholders of record at the close of business on July 18 will receive three additional shares of GameStop Class A common stock for each share of Class A common stock they hold. Trading will begin on a stock-split-adjusted basis on July 22, the company said.
Shares of GameStop rose over 8% to $127.35 in after-hours trading Wednesday. The stock finished the day's regular session with a 2.3% loss. Year to date, the stock has lost more than 20%.
Last year, GameStop was at the center of a monthslong, social-media-fueled trading frenzy. The company overhauled its executive team and board of directors in an effort to reverse years of languishing sales and strategic missteps. The company named two Amazon.com Inc. veterans as its chief executive and chief financial officer, and shareholders voted for activist investor Ryan Cohen as chairman.
Under Mr. Cohen's leadership, GameStop has been working to turn itself around in part by investing in efforts to improve and boost its e-commerce business. The company also launched a digital wallet that it said would enable transactions on a marketplace it is building for gamers and others to buy, sell and trade nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.
In June, GameStop posted $1.38 billion in net sales for the quarter through April 30, up from $1.28 billion a year earlier.