By Samrhitha A and Svea Herbst-Bayliss

(Reuters) -Ryan Cohen, the billionaire investor whose guess on GameStop Corp (NYSE:) made him fashionable with meme inventory merchants, took over as government chairman on Wednesday after the online game retailer ousted its CEO and reported a wider-than anticipated quarterly loss.

Traders pushed the inventory worth down greater than 20% in after-hours buying and selling, persevering with a roller-coaster trip that began in early 2021 when retail buyers piled in to show hedge fund betting on GameStop’s demise mistaken.

Some analysts are questioning whether or not the hard-charging Cohen can really flip GameStop round.

CEO Matt Furlong’s firing on Wednesday got here virtually precisely two years after GameStop introduced the previous Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) government again to the USA from Australia the place he was working.

GameStop didn’t say why Furlong was terminated and didn’t reply to a Reuters request for remark. Cohen and his consultant additionally didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Cohen, who made his fortune promoting the net pet merchandise retailer Chewy (NYSE:) for $3.5 billion in 2017, joined GameStop’s board in early 2021 and has been placing his imprint on technique ever since. He was elected chairman in June 2021.

With plans to remake the corporate into an e-commerce powerhouse, Cohen overhauled its prime ranks by bringing in a string of executives from Amazon. However most of the hires, who have been usually drawn from Cohen’s private community and vetted by him, haven’t lasted lengthy.

Cohen has additionally backtracked on plans to construct out e-commerce, relying extra on GameStop’s brick-and-mortar shops and utilizing them as locations the place prospects can decide up on-line orders.

GameStop on Wednesday stated internet gross sales for the three months by April fell 10% to $1.24 billion, marking a fourth consecutive decline in quarterly income.

Since Furlong’s appointment was introduced, GameStop shares have misplaced over half of their worth and are down about 65% since June 2021. Cohen is the corporate’s largest investor.

Cohen, in keeping with folks near him, is a hands-on government and really demanding boss, generally worrying that executives lacked the type of depth he shows.

Former chief working officer Jenna Owens left in October 2021 simply seven months after becoming a member of, and former monetary chief Michael Recupero, who was employed concurrently Furlong was introduced in, was terminated final 12 months.

The revolving door apprehensive some analysts.

“It displays the utter lack of technique. They needed to be like Amazon, and employed … from Amazon in 2021,” stated Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities.

GameStop stated it is not going to maintain a convention name to debate the quarter.

Ever since making his first funding in GameStop, Cohen has been usual into an activist investor, a status he expanded with bets final 12 months on Mattress Bathtub & Past (OTC:) and extra just lately on Alibaba (NYSE:) and Nordstrom (NYSE:).

At every firm he pushed for modifications with blended success. Mattress Bathtub & Past, the place he rapidly settled with the corporate for board seats final 12 months, filed for chapter earlier this 12 months. At Nordstrom information of Cohen’s stake despatched the share worth increased, however he then quietly withdrew his nomination for 2 director candidates after pushing the corporate to exchange the Nordstrom director who had beforehand been Mattress Bathtub & Past’s CEO. Nordstrom’s inventory worth is down 29% within the final 52 weeks.

Whereas Cohen arrived at GameStop after constructing Chewy right into a powerhouse, business analysts and a few buyers are actually questioning his skill to revive different retail corporations.

Wedbush’s Pachter stated Cohen “is incapable of working a retail operation. … It is type of like Elon Musk working Twitter.”

At Mattress Bathtub, Cohen offered his stake in August, simply months after reaching the settlement in March, sending its inventory worth tumbling.

“Whereas the ‘meme merchants’ love Ryan Cohen, this isn’t plan ‘A.’ This (GameStop) is a enterprise in decline and a Hail Mary go for buyers to depend on Cohen to show it round,” stated Thomas Hayes, chairman at Nice Hill Capital LLC.