Approximately 200 retail stores were not included in the transaction and were subsequently closed. Electronics Boutique had also bid to purchase NeoStar, but the judge presiding over NeoStar's bankruptcy accepted Riggio's bid because it kept open 108 stores more than Electronics Boutique's bid would have. and chairman and principal stockholder of Barnes & Noble. The leadership changes were not enough in November 1996, the assets of NeoStar were purchased for $58.5 million by Leonard Riggio, a founder of Software Etc. Plaskett chairman while James McCurry remained company chief executive and president. In September of that year, after NeoStar was unable to secure the credit necessary to purchase inventory necessary for the holiday season, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and appointed Thomas G. Company president Daniel DeMatteo also resigned, and NeoStar chairman and CEO James McCurry assumed the title of president. units into a single organization in May 1996 amid declining sales.

NeoStar merged its Babbage's and Software Etc. The company relocated from its headquarters in Dallas to Grapevine later that year. NeoStar chairman James McCurry was also appointed to the newly created position of NeoStar CEO. Daniel DeMatteo, formerly president of Software Etc., assumed Kusin's duties and was promoted to president and chief operating officer of NeoStar. Gary Kusin resigned as president of Babbage's in February 1995 to start a cosmetics company. chairman Leonard Riggio became chairman of NeoStar's executive committee. President Daniel DeMatteo retained their respective titles. Babbage's founder and chairman James McCurry became chairman of NeoStar, while Babbage's president Gary Kusin and Software Etc. continued to operate as independent subsidiaries of NeoStar and retained their respective senior management teams. received shares of NeoStar, a newly formed holding company. The merger was structured as a stock swap, where shareholders of Babbage's and Software Etc. NeoStar Retail Group (1994–1996) īabbage's merged with Software Etc., an Edina, Minnesota-based retailer that specialized in personal computing software, to create NeoStar Retail Group in 1994. By 1991, video games accounted for two-thirds of Babbage's sales. Babbage's became a public company via an initial public offering in 1988. Babbage's began selling Nintendo games in 1987. The company quickly began to focus on video game sales for the then-dominant Atari 2600. The company was named after Charles Babbage and opened its first store in Dallas's NorthPark Center with the help of Ross Perot, an early investor in the company. GameStop traces its roots to Babbage's, a Dallas, Texas-based software retailer founded in 1984 by former Harvard Business School classmates James McCurry and Gary M. on a 5.25' floppy disk branded by the company Babbage's (1984–1994) In addition to retail stores, GameStop owns and publishes Game Informer, a video game magazine, transformed itself into an e-commerce business, and launched an NFT platform. The company is now ranked 521st on the Fortune 500. The company received significant media attention during January and February 2021 due to the volatility of its stock price. According to the SEC report, this volatility was only in part due to the shorts covering their positions, but mostly thanks to the massive buying power of retail investors. In 2021, after retail investors noticed that the short interest well exceeded the float, the company's stock price skyrocketed. The company's performance declined during the mid-to-late 2010s due to the shift of video game sales to online shopping and failed investments by GameStop in smartphone retail. The company was founded in Dallas in 1984 as Babbage's, and took on its current name in 1999.

As of 28 January 2023, the company operates 4,413 stores including 2,949 in the United States, 216 in Canada, 419 in Australia and 829 in Europe under the GameStop, EB Games, EB Games Australia, Micromania-Zing, ThinkGeek and Zing Pop Culture brands. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer.

Electronics expo bankruptcy