corp. type public traded as nyse gme industry retail founded 1984 ; 32 years ago 1984 as babbage s dallas texas u.s. founder james mccurry gary m. kusin headquarters grapevine texas u.s. number of locations 6 627 2012 1 area served worldwide key people daniel dematteo executive chairman j. paul raines ceo products video games consoles accessories revenue us 9.0 billion 2014 2 operating income us 598.9 million 2014 2 net income us 354.2 million 2014 2 total assets us 4.1 billion 2014 2 total equity us 2.3 billion 2014 2 number of employees 20 000 full time 2016 3 divisions gamestop eb games babbage s micromania kongregate game informer impulse thinkgeek zing pop culture geeknet website gamestop.com gamestop corp. or simply referred to as gamestop is an american video game consumer electronics and wireless services retailer . 1 the company is headquartered in grapevine texas united states and operates 6 457 retail stores throughout the united states canada australia new zealand and europe . the company s retail stores primarily operate under the gamestop eb games and micromania brands . 1 in addition to retail stores gamestop also owns kongregate a site for browser based video games ; and game informer a video game magazine ; simply mac an apple products reseller ; and spring mobile an at & t wireless reseller . it also operates cricket wireless branded retail stores as an authorized agent . cricket is an at & t brand pre paid wireless retailer . 1 j. paul raines is gamestop s chief executive officer and daniel dematteo serves as executive chairman . contents 1 operations 2 history 2.1 babbage s 1984 1994 2.2 neostar retail group 1994 1996 2.3 babbage s etc. 1996 1999 2.4 barnes & noble 1999 2004 2.5 gamestop 2004 present 3 owned brands and concepts 3.1 game informer 3.2 gamestop pc downloads 3.3 trade ins 3.4 gamestop tv 3.5 pre order bonuses 3.6 moviestop 3.7 gamestop kids 3.8 gametrust games 4 criticism 4.1 opened copies of game titles 4.2 used games market 4.3 fingerprint identification 5 see also 6 references 7 external links operations edit gamestop is divided into two operating segments video game brands and technology brands . 1 the technology brands was created during the fourth quarter of 2013 and houses the companies simply mac spring mobile and cricket wireless business . as of april 2014 the technology brands segment included 218 retail outlets . 4 gamestop s video game brands includes the company s other businesses such as video game and consumer electronics retail shops ; kongregate a digital video game distribution site ; and buymytronics.com a consumer electronics marketplace . pre owned and value video games accounted for 47 % of gamestop s gross revenue for the fiscal year ending february 2014 . 1 history edit logo of retailer software etc. on a 5.25 floppy disk branded by the company babbage s 1984 1994 edit gamestop traces its roots to babbage s a dallas texas based software retailer founded in 1984 by former harvard business school classmates james curry and gary m. sinus . 5 the company was named after charles babbage 6 and opened its first store in dallas north park center with the help of ross perot an early investor in the company . 7 the company quickly began to focus on video game sales for the then dominant atari 2600 . 5 babbage s began selling nintendo games in 1987 . 8 the company went public in 1988 . 6 by 1991 video games accounted for two thirds of babbage s sales . 8 neostar retail group 1994 1996 edit babbage s merged with software etc. an edina minnesota based retailer that specialized in personal computing software to create neostar retail group in 1994 . 9 the merger was structured as a stock swap where shareholders of babbage s and software etc. received shares of neostar a newly formed holding company . babbage s and software etc. continued to operate as independent subsidiaries of neostar and retained their respective senior management teams . 9 babbage s founder and chairman james mccurry became chairman of neostar while babbage s president gary kusin and software etc. president daniel dematteo retained their respective titles . software etc. chairman leonard riggio became chairman of neostar s executive committee . 10 gary kusin resigned as president of babbage s in february 1995 to start a cosmetics company . daniel dematto formerly president of software etc. assumed kusin s duties and was promoted to president and chief operating officer of neostar . neostar chairman james mccurry was also appointed to the newly created position of neostar ceo . 11 the company relocated from its headquarters in dallas to grapevine later that year . 12 neostar merged its babbage s and software etc. units into a single organization in may 1996 amid declining sales . company president daniel dematteo also resigned and neostar chairman and ceo james mccurry assumed the title of president . 13 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 . 14 with the filing neostar board member thomas plaskett became chairman and james mccurry remained company chief executive and president . 15 the leadership changes were not enough and in november 1996 the assets of neostar were purchased for 58.5 million by leonard riggio a founder of software etc. and chairman and principal stockholder of barnes & noble . 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 . approximately 200 retail stores were not included in the transaction and were subsequently closed . 15 babbage s etc. 1996 1999 edit following his purchase of neostar s assets leonard riggio dissolved the holding company and created a new holding company named babbage s etc. 16 he appointed richard dick fontaine previously software etc. s chief executive during its expansion in the late 1980s and early 1990s as babbage etc. s chief executive . daniel dematteo previously the president of both software etc. and neostar became company president and coo . 16 three years later in 1999 babbage s etc. launched its gamestop brand with 30 stores located in strip malls . the company also launched gamestop.com a website that allowed consumers to purchase video games online . gamestop.com was promoted in babbage s and software etc. stores . 17 barnes & noble 1999 2004 edit gamestop shop front inside a mall barnes & noble purchased babbage s etc. in october 1999 for 215 million . 18 because babbage s etc. was principally owned by leonard riggio who was also barnes & noble s chairman and principal shareholder a special committee of independent directors of barnes & noble evaluated and signed off on the deal . 18 a few months later in may 2000 barnes & noble acquired funco an eden prairie minnesota based video game retailer for 160 million . 19 babbage s etc. which had been previously operating as a direct subsidiary of barnes & noble became a wholly owned subsidiary of funco . 20 with its acquisition of funco barnes & noble also acquired game informer a video game magazine that was first published in 1991 . 21 funco was renamed gamestop inc. in december 2000 in anticipation of holding an initial public offering for the company . 20 barnes & noble took gamestop public with a february 2002 initial public offering on the new york stock exchange . 22 gamestop was listed under the ticker symbol gme . 22 barnes & noble retained control over the newly public company with 67 % of outstanding shares and 95 % of voting shares . barnes & noble retained control over gamestop until october 2004 when it distributed its 59 % stake in gamestop to stakeholders of barnes & noble making it an independent company . 22 23 gamestop 2004 present edit a store in hillsboro oregon gamestop acquired eb games formerly electronics boutique in 2005 for 1.44 billion . the acquisition expanded gamestop s operations into europe canada australia and new zealand . 24 two years later in 2007 gamestop acquired rhino video games from blockbuster for an undisclosed amount . rhino video games operated 70 video game stores throughout the southeastern united states . 25 gamestop purchased free record shop s norwegian stores in april 2008 . the company acquired 49 stores and converted them into video game shops . 26 daniel dematteo replaced richard fontaine as gamestop ceo in august 2008 . dematteo had served as company coo since 1996 . fontaine who had been gamestop chairman and ceo since 1996 remained the company s chairman . 27 j. paul raines formerly executive vice president of home depot became company coo in september . 27 gamestop acquired micromania a french video game retailer in october 2008 for 700 million . gamestop which had previously owned no stores in france now had 332 french video game stores . 28 it also acquired a majority stake in jolt online gaming an irish browser based game studio in november 2009 . jolt closed in 2012 . 29 j. paul raines became gamestop ceo in june 2010 . 30 he replaced daniel dematteo who was named executive chairman of the company . 30 gamestop acquired kongregate a san francisco california based website for browser based games ; terms of the deal were not disclosed . 31 gamestop acquired spawn labs and impulse in separate transactions during 2011 . 32 spawn labs was a developer of technology that allowed users to play video games that were run remotely on machines in data centers rather than their personal computer or console . impulse was a digital distribution and multiplayer gaming platform . 32 gamestop closed spawn labs in 2014 . 33 gamestop purchased buymytronics a denver colorado based online market place for consumer electronics in 2012 . 34 later that year it acquired a minority interest in simply mac a utah based authorized apple reseller . 35 gamestop acquired the remaining 50.1 % interest in simply mac in november 2013 . 1 gamestop also acquired spring mobile a salt lake city utah based retailer of at & t branded wireless services in november 2013 . 36 they obtained 163 radioshack locations as of february 26 2015 as well . 37 all gamestop stores has been closed down in puerto rico at the end of march 2016 citing increased rates of government taxes . 38 on august 3 2016 it acquired 507 at & t store chains in plans to diversify into new businesses and less dependant on the video game market . 39 owned brands and concepts edit game informer edit game informer is a magazine owned by gamestop inc. and primarily sold through subscriptions which can be purchased at gamestop locations . purchasing a subscription to the magazine also gets the subscriber the powerup rewards pro card a pro version of gamestop s customer appreciation card . this increases all store credit trade values by 10 % discounts all used accessories and games by 10 % gives new powerup members a coupon for buy 2 get 1 free on pre owned games and accessories enters them twice for the epic rewards giveaway for each purchase gives the cardholder opportunities to gain points with their purchases and redeem them for rewards and gains them access to special content on the game informer website . gamestop pc downloads edit gamestop pc downloads formerly called impulse is a digital distribution service run and operated by gamestop . originally known as impulse when owned by stardock it was sold to gamestop in 2011 and rebranded as gamestop pc downloads with the impulse client renamed as the gamestop app . under the ownership of gamestop the service has