Struggling GameStop Corporation, one of the country’s leading purveyors of video games and gaming consoles, saw its already beleaguered shares plummet 30 percent in Tuesday after-hours trading on news it had eliminated dividends for its fiscal 2019 first quarter.

Analysts said this stunning move confirmed what investors have long speculated -- GameStop is running out of money.

GameStop said eliminating its quarterly dividend effective immediately will save some $157 million a year. Its shares were down 38 percent year-to-date as of Tuesday’s close.

The massive fall in value on Tuesday sank GameStop’s market cap to just $799.7 million, its lowest level in over five years. The company’s stock ended the trading day at $7.82, up 4.69 percent. It nosedived a frightening 29.7 percent to $5.50 in after-hours as investors digested the entirety of the company’s grim Q1 earnings report.

This is the second time this year the company’s stock had fallen over 25 percent in a single day. The first time was in Jan. 29 when GameStop said it had stopped looking for a buyer. Shares plummeted 27 percent to a 14-year low immediately following the announcement.

GameStop said it had halted plans for its acquisition by another firm due to a "lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquirer.” It said it’s looking for other actions “to help re-establish its financial ground.”Analysts agree turning around GameStop won’t be an easy task because the company’s core businesses -- new video game sales and physical game media -- is depleting annually on account of the immense popularity of downloadable gaming and video game streaming.

Photo: Mohammad Khursheed/Reuters

GameStop posted its biggest loss in fiscal 2018. And for the 52 week period ending Feb. 2, 2019, GameStop reported a record-breaking net loss of $673 million. This compares to the net profit of $34.7 million in 2018. Net sales of $8.29 billion for fiscal year 2018 were 3 percent lower year-on-year.

This trend continued in Q1 of FY 2019. GameStop said its net income fell to $6.8 million, or 7 cents per share, from $28.2 million, or 28 cents per share year-on-year. Net sales fell to $1.55 billion from $1.79 billion in the year-ago period. Refinitiv expected the company to post a loss of 3 cents per share on revenue of $1.64 billion.

The outlook for the current fiscal year is grim. GameStop expects full-year 2019 sales to fall between 5 percent and 10 percent.