Geeknet, the company that owns popular online retailer ThinkGeek, will not be acquired by Hot Topic after all. Only a week after that acquisition was announced, a new statement released Tuesday revealed that the deal has been terminated and Geeknet will be acquired by GameStop instead.
While the original deal with Hot Topic would have seen the retailer acquire Geeknet for about $122 million, GameStop’s agreement will total approximately $140 million.
“Following discussion with both GameStop and Hot Topic, the Board of Directors of Geeknet determined that the GameStop transaction represented a superior proposal. Geeknet will pay Hot Topic a termination fee pursuant to the Hot Topic agreement, for which GameStop has agreed to reimburse Geeknet,” the press release states.
Geeknet is no stranger to the world of video games. ThinkGeek carries a number of game-inspired products and in August 2014 Geeknet acquired Treehouse Brand Stores, now known as ThinkGeek Solutions, which creates licensed merchandise for a number of video game companies including BioWare and Bethesda. Whether or not this means GameStop will start carrying more of this type of merchandise in their stores remains to be seen. In this area, the acquisition by Hot Topic seemed to make more sense as it shared more crossover with ThinkGeek in the types of pop culture items they sold. Hot Topic has expanded a lot over the years into the geek market, especially when it comes to geek fashion. Still, this could be good news for gamers who want more from GameStop.
“The addition of Geeknet is an important expansion of our global multichannel platform and we are excited to leverage their product development expertise to broaden our product offering in the fast-growing collectibles category and deepen relationships with our existing customer base,” chief executive officer of GameStop Paul Raines said in the statement.
Kathryn McCarthy, chief executive officer of Geeknet, said in the same statement that being part of GameStop’s brands will help Geeknet achieve their “goals of increasing our brand awareness and expanding our product offerings.”
Only time will tell what we’ll see from these companies coming together, and since the deal won’t close until the end of GameStop’s second quarter, who knows? There might still be time for someone else to present Geeknet an even better offer.
H/T Kotaku | Image by Fernando Alfonso III
