GameStop Corp.’s stock Soared nearly 17% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the company announced executives plan to execute a stock split for the first time in 15 years.
The video games retailer announced that it plans to seek shareholder approval to increase its number of shares from 300 million to 1 billion so it can perform a stock split in the form of a dividend. The company also expects the move to increase the share count “would provide flexibility for future corporate needs,” according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
GameStop GME, -0.16%, didn’t specify in the filing the ratio it intends to split its shares by if the move is approved by shareholders at its next annual meeting. The company split its shares 2-for-1 on March 19, 2007, the only split in its history, according to the Dow Jones Market Data Group.
GameStop said its final proxy statement would include more details about the change to increase the share count, as well as information about the timing and location of the annual meeting. A proxy has not yet been publicly filed with the SEC; GameStop’s power of attorney for 2021 was publicly filed on April 22 this year.
The company also plans to seek shareholder approval for a new incentive plan that it says will “support future compensatory stock offerings.”
If GameStop — which has risen in prominence as investors who have flocked to Reddit in recent years — takes the stock split, it would join a wave of high-profile splits. Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. GOOG, -2.10%, GOOGL, -2.02%, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -1.99%, and Tesla Inc. TSLA, -1.50% all announced plans to split their shares in the first quarter of 2022.
Read: Google’s parent company’s stock split could spark a ripple, Bank of America analysts say
GameStop shares are up 12% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 SPX is down -1.57%, about 5% over the same period. Shares were up 16.9% in after-hours trading on Thursday after closing down 0.2% to $166.58, the third straight decline for the stock after a 10-session winning streak, the longest was for 12 years.