You might have heard recently, Geeknet, the owners of ThinkGeek.com had been bought by Hot Topic for $122 million. Well, forget all that! In a press release put out today, Geeknet has announced that they’ve cancelled the deal with Hot Topic (and will pay the termination fee) in favour of an offer of $140 million from GameStop. In the press release, Geeknet said:
“Our Board and management team believe this transaction is in the best interest of Geeknet and its stockholders,” said Kathryn McCarthy, chief executive officer of Geeknet. “As a part of GameStop’s family of brands, Geeknet will be well-positioned to achieve our goals of increasing our brand awareness and expanding our product offerings.”
If you don’t know what ThinkGeek is, they’re an online retailer specialising in…well…geek culture, selling licensed products from various comics, anime, Star Wars/Trek, Doctor Who…anything nerd/geek culture, really.
It’s too early to tell exactly what (if any) changes GameStop will be making to Geeknet. Per the press release, the acquisition is supposed to help improve Geeknet’s distribution and marketing reach, maybe even including being able to pick up your ThinkGeek order at your local GameStop/EB Games.
What do you think, good or bad?
