GameStop shakeup rolls on, hires Amazon executive as chief growth officer

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A GameStop store is pictured in New York

(Reuters) -GameStop Corp said on Tuesday it named Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) executive Elliott Wilke as chief growth officer, the latest top level appointment after shareholder Ryan Cohen took charge of the video game retailer’s e-commerce pivot.

The company’s shares, which were at the heart of a Reddit-driven retail trading frenzy early this year, rose nearly 5% in pre-market trading.

GameStop (NYSE:GME) is in the process of shifting its business away from the brick-and-mortar retailer model into an e-commerce business that can compete with large-scale retailers like Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc, as well as technology companies Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sony Corp.

Signaling a broader overhaul, at least two executives have recently departed – Chief Customer Officer Frank Hamlin and Chief Financial Officer Jim Bell.

Wilke, who has spent nearly seven years at Amazon and last led its Fresh Stores business, will oversee growth strategies and marketing at GameStop.

The company had hired another former Amazon executive, Jenna Owens, as Chief Operating Officer earlier this month. She had managed multi-channel fulfillment and distribution at Amazon.

This was preceded by the appointment of Matt Francis as its first ever Chief Technology Officer last month. He was also an Amazon head of the engineering team at Amazon Web Services.

The shakeup proliferated the company’s board as it announced the expected retirement of eight directors at its annual meeting this year.

Earlier this month, GameStop had announced the formation of a three-member committee chaired by Ryan Cohen, which is responsible for the moves leading to a re-jigging of the company’s leadership.

The company on Tuesday also named former Chewy.com executives Andrea Wolfe and Tom Peterson to lead brand development and merchandising, respectively.