GameStop director Leonard Riggio has sold 2.3 million shares in the company, in a move that analysts say might be a sign of pessimism on the retailer's near-term prospects.
Riggio -- also board chairman and founder of the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain, which used to own GameStop -- earned $60.2 million through the sale, and lowers his stake in the company to 5.5 percent from 6.9 percent.
"Unless he desperately needs $60 million," it appears that he doesn't think the stock is going to be performing very well, insider trading firm Form4Oracle co-founder Alex Romayev
told financial magazine Barron's. "He's got a lot bigger stake in Barnes & Noble. Clearly he thinks selling GameStop is better than selling Barnes & Noble."
Most analysts have been generally positive on the retailer's prospects ahead of the key holiday season, thanks to hardware price cuts, improved year-over-year comparisons likely ahead, and the view of retailers like Best Buy that consumer foot traffic is
about to make a return.
But Romayev told Barron's that the last time Riggio made a GameStop shares sale not related to options, he divested just in time to avoid a 62 percent loss.
