GameStop (NYSE:GME) just dropped a bombshelland investors are reeling. The company announced it’s ditching more of its retail footprint and diving headfirst into Bitcoin (BTC-USD), raising $1.3 billion via zero-coupon convertible bonds to buy the cryptocurrency as a treasury reserve asset. Shares initially surged 14% on the buzz, but that excitement didn’t last long. Within 24 hours, the stock nosedived nearly 25% at 2.07pm, giving back all its gains and then some. While retail traders lit up the meme-stock boards, analysts were quick to question whether this pivot is a bold reinventionor a desperate roll of the dice.
Let’s not sugarcoat it: GameStop’s core business is bleeding. Sales fell 28% year-over-year, and it’s closed a quarter of its stores in the past year. Management says the Bitcoin move is about optimizing returns and staying liquid, but the timing raised eyebrows. Crypto markets have already surged 27% since Novemberso why now? Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) pulled off a similar playbook in 2020 and saw its stock skyrocket, but it’s sitting on a massive Bitcoin stash and trades at a tighter premium. GameStop? Not quite the same setup, and investors know it.
The bigger issue? Confidenceor lack thereof. This shift might stir up the Reddit crowd, but long-term investors are asking tougher questions. If Bitcoin is the future, what happens to the rest of the business? And can a company still grappling with declining relevance turn into a credible crypto proxy? Unless this gamble pays off fast, GameStop could be trading memes for mayhem.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
