(Reuters) – GameStop Corp has tapped shareholder Ryan Cohen to lead a shift towards e-commerce, a Bloomberg reporter said in a tweet on Monday, sending the company’s shares up 12% before the bell.
Last week, Cohen, who is a major shareholder of GameStop and founder of e-commerce firm Chewy.com, posted a cryptic tweet of an ice-cream cone, with analysts speculating on whether that was a trigger for GameStop’s most recent rally.
Cohen’s RC Ventures activist firm reached a settlement with GameStop in January, giving Cohen seats on the company’s board.
He had urged the videogame retailer to review its business and focus on digital sales by moving away from its traditional brick-and-mortar model.
GameStop, which has become one of the most visible of the so-called meme stocks, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)