GameStop Buys ThinkGeek

d7d8_doctor_who_new_sonic_screwdriverWhat do you do when your primary physical sales channel is drying up? You sell something that your audience loves, preferably online, and if that doesn’t work you buy someone that does. To that end, GameStop, the beleaguered game sales company, has bought ThinkGeek, a beleaguered geek toy company, for $140 million at $20 a share.

GameStop profit was up last year thanks to solid console sales but generally the business of selling optical media is on a downward slope. GeekNet, the parent company of ThinkGeek, cancelled a merger with Hot Topic to broker this sale even as the company was facing a decline in earnings. However, it does still sell physical products that would work well in GameStop stores.

According to a GameStop press release,, the “transaction provides a natural extension of GameStop’s existing product offering and is expected to add an immediate incremental $100+ million in annual net sales.”

The acquisition will close by Q2 2015.