Shares of GameStop Corp. dropped on Wednesday after the videogame retailer revealed that it had bought its first bitcoin on a day when the price of the cryptocurrency dropped.
GameStop (GME) stated in a one-sentence news announcement that it had acquired 4,710 bitcoin.
The amount paid for the bitcoin (BTCUSD) was not disclosed by the company. Given the current price of bitcoin, which is down 1.5% at $107,479, GameStop’s acquisition would be worth just over $506 million.
GameStop’s stock, meanwhile, fell 10.9% on Wednesday after rising 24.8% over the three sessions prior.
An amendment to GameStop’s investment policy that added bitcoin as a treasury-reserve asset was unanimously approved by the board earlier this year.
With the decision, GameStop followed in the cryptocurrency footsteps of Japanese company Metaplanet Inc. (JP:3350), which also employs bitcoin as its primary treasury-reserve asset, and software company and bitcoin player MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), which operates under the name Strategy.
Additionally, Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and current governor of Ohio, announced on Tuesday that his company, Strive Asset Management, which manages exchange-traded funds, will purchase faltering biotechnology firms and utilize the money on their balance sheets to purchase bitcoin. Additionally, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT), the parent company of Truth Social, the social media network run by President Donald Trump, announced on Tuesday that it intends to collect funds through the sale of shares in order to purchase bitcoin.
Before GameStop added bitcoin as a treasury-reserve asset, Ryan Cohen, the company’s CEO, shared a photo of himself with Strategy executive chair Michael Saylor, which sparked rumors that the videogame retailer and original meme stock would soon make a cryptocurrency announcement.
After a difficult few years with dwindling sales and fierce competition from digital gaming and streaming, GameStop has been credited with gaining some breathing room with its entry into the bitcoin market.
A new investment strategy that allowed GameStop to invest in equity securities, among other things, was adopted by the company’s board of directors in December 2023. The board authorized Cohen to oversee the investment portfolio.
The corporation had $4.775 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at the end of its most recent fiscal fourth quarter.
GameStop’s stock soared during the 2021 meme-stock craze, much like that of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC). But since its record closing high of $86.88 on January 27, 2021, the stock has dropped 63.2%.
In 2025, the videogame retailer’s stock has increased 1.9%, surpassing the 0.5% growth of the S&P 500 index.
