August 23, 2007 - GameStop Corp. on Thursday reported record financial results for the second quarter of its 2007 fiscal year, boosting its earnings nearly seven-fold over the same period in 2006.

The Texas-based owner of GameStop and EB Games retail stores reported net earnings of $21.8 million for the quarter ended Aug. 4, a huge increase over its earnings of $3.18 million during the corresponding quarter in 2006.

The company's new game sales jumped by 49 percent over last year, but new hardware sales sweetened the pot, enjoying an 87-percent leap in sales compared to the second quarter of 2006. GameStop recorded a whopping $1.3 billion in sales this quarter, beating its sales and growth predictions on almost every count.

"During this quarter, we opened 150 new stores and now operate 4,954 stores in 16 countries. GameStop surpassed the 1,000 store count internationally and we are well on our way to achieving our forecast of opening between 500 and 550 new stores during the year," said company chairman and CEO Richard Fontaine.

Based on this quarter's financials, GameStop on Thursday issued new future earnings estimates, predicting that same-store sales will increase by 30 to 32 percent in the third quarter and that total company revenues will see an increase of 20 to 22 percent for 2007 overall when compared to last year.