Billionaire GameStop chairman and CEO Ryan Cohen has revealed that he plans to buy a company to help transform GameStop from where it stands today at around an $11 billion market cap to a $100 billion-plus giant that would sell more than video games and collectibles.
Cohen told The Wall Street Journal that he's pursuing a publicly traded company for a buyout, and it would probably be a company in the consumer or retail space. Cohen has a history in those markets, as he co-founded Chewy before selling it to PetSmart and invested in Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Cohen said he plans to speak with companies soon, and said if a deal comes together, it would be "big." At the same time, Cohen said it could all fall apart and end up in disaster.
"It's ultimately either going to be genius or totally, totally foolish," he said. "There are a lot of diamonds in the rough … that have sleepy management teams. I didn't fix GameStop to stop there."
Cohen would personally stand to benefit in a major way of he can succeed in transforming GameStop's business into something much larger. Earlier this year, GameStop announced a new compensation package for Cohen that would pay him as much as $35 billion if he can reach certain extremely lofty market value and profitability targets.
Cohen himself is the single largest individual GameStop shareholder, owning more than 9% of the company. His efforts have caught the attention of investor Michael Burry, who also owns a position in GameStop. Burry, who famously took bets against subprime mortgage bonds and made lots of money doing so, recently wrote on his Substack that Cohen should indeed use GameStop's substantial position of more than $9 billion in cash and liquid securities to help fund the acquisition of another company to help GameStop grow.
GameStop's latest earnings report showed falling revenue (down from $860.3 million to $821 million) for the latest quarter, but a profit of $77.1 million, compared to $17.4 million. GameStop has trimmed its business substantially in recent years, closing numerous stores and laying off staff. This was the plan that Cohen outlined years ago. GameStop shut down the Game Informer magazine in 2014, but 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 people rich with the 2021 short-squeeze situation, which saw the company's share price rise to $120.75 as day-traders bought up stock in an coordinated effort to hurt short-selling hedge funds. The company underwent a 4:1 stock split in 2022. GameStop shares closed at $22.81 on January 29. The WSJ interview was published after the market closed on January 29, so many will be watching to see how GameStop stock performs today, January 30, and beyond.
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Cohen told The Wall Street Journal that he's pursuing a publicly traded company for a buyout, and it would probably be a company in the consumer or retail space. Cohen has a history in those markets, as he co-founded Chewy before selling it to PetSmart and invested in Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Cohen said he plans to speak with companies soon, and said if a deal comes together, it would be "big." At the same time, Cohen said it could all fall apart and end up in disaster.
"It's ultimately either going to be genius or totally, totally foolish," he said. "There are a lot of diamonds in the rough … that have sleepy management teams. I didn't fix GameStop to stop there."
Cohen would personally stand to benefit in a major way of he can succeed in transforming GameStop's business into something much larger. Earlier this year, GameStop announced a new compensation package for Cohen that would pay him as much as $35 billion if he can reach certain extremely lofty market value and profitability targets.
Cohen himself is the single largest individual GameStop shareholder, owning more than 9% of the company. His efforts have caught the attention of investor Michael Burry, who also owns a position in GameStop. Burry, who famously took bets against subprime mortgage bonds and made lots of money doing so, recently wrote on his Substack that Cohen should indeed use GameStop's substantial position of more than $9 billion in cash and liquid securities to help fund the acquisition of another company to help GameStop grow.
GameStop's latest earnings report showed falling revenue (down from $860.3 million to $821 million) for the latest quarter, but a profit of $77.1 million, compared to $17.4 million. GameStop has trimmed its business substantially in recent years, closing numerous stores and laying off staff. This was the plan that Cohen outlined years ago. GameStop shut down the Game Informer magazine in 2014, but 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 people rich with the 2021 short-squeeze situation, which saw the company's share price rise to $120.75 as day-traders bought up stock in an coordinated effort to hurt short-selling hedge funds. The company underwent a 4:1 stock split in 2022. GameStop shares closed at $22.81 on January 29. The WSJ interview was published after the market closed on January 29, so many will be watching to see how GameStop stock performs today, January 30, and beyond.
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