Billionaire GameStop chairman and CEO Ryan Cohen has revealed that he plans to purchase an organization to assist remodel GameStop from the place it stands right this moment at round an $11 billion market cap to a $100 billion-plus big that may promote greater than video video games and collectibles.
Cohen instructed The Wall Street Journal that he is pursuing a publicly traded firm for a buyout, and it could most likely be an organization within the client or retail house. Cohen has a historical past in these markets, as he co-founded Chewy earlier than promoting it to PetSmart and invested in Nordstrom and Mattress Tub & Past.
Cohen mentioned he plans to talk with corporations quickly, and mentioned if a deal comes collectively, it could be “huge.” On the identical time, Cohen mentioned it may all crumble and find yourself in catastrophe.
“It is finally both going to be genius or completely, completely silly,” he mentioned. “There are quite a lot of diamonds within the tough … which have sleepy administration groups. I did not repair GameStop to cease there.”
Cohen would personally stand to profit in a serious method of he can achieve remodeling GameStop’s enterprise into one thing a lot bigger. Earlier this yr, GameStop introduced a brand new compensation package deal for Cohen that may pay him as a lot as $35 billion if he can attain sure extraordinarily lofty market worth and profitability targets.
Cohen himself is the one largest particular person GameStop shareholder, proudly owning greater than 9% of the corporate. His efforts have caught the eye of investor Michael Burry, who additionally owns a place in GameStop. Burry, who famously took bets towards subprime mortgage bonds and made numerous cash doing so, recently wrote on his Substack that Cohen ought to certainly use GameStop’s substantial place of greater than $9 billion in cash and liquid securities to assist fund the acquisition of one other firm to assist GameStop develop.
GameStop’s newest earnings report confirmed falling income (down from $860.3 million to $821 million) for the newest quarter, however a revenue of $77.1 million, in comparison with $17.4 million. GameStop has trimmed its enterprise considerably in recent times, closing quite a few shops and shedding employees. This was the plan that Cohen outlined years in the past. GameStop shut down the Recreation Informer journal in 2014, however District 9 director Neill Blomkamp and his web3 and NFT-based studio Gunzilla acquired Game Informer in 2025 and brought it back to life.
GameStop made many individuals wealthy with the 2021 short-squeeze scenario, which noticed the corporate’s share worth rise to $120.75 as day-traders purchased up inventory in an coordinated effort to harm short-selling hedge funds. The corporate underwent a 4:1 inventory cut up in 2022. GameStop shares closed at $22.81 on January 29. The WSJ interview was revealed after the market closed on January 29, so many can be watching to see how GameStop inventory performs right this moment, January 30, and past.