GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) chairman and CEO Ryan Cohen went back to the open market Monday, pushing his personal position in the video game retailer past 40 million shares.
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The Buy – Details
A Form 4 filed with the SEC Monday shows Cohen bought 1,150,680 shares of GameStop Class A common stock the same day, at a weighted average price of $22.9375 per share. The trades filled between $22.76 and $23.02, putting the day’s outlay at roughly $26.4 million.
Cohen now directly owns 40,498,522 shares, worth about $922 million at Monday’s close of $22.76. The filing carries no Rule 10b5-1 designation, meaning the purchase was not made under a pre-scheduled plan — a detail retail traders have learned to watch closely since Cohen’s stake helped ignite the 2021 meme-stock squeeze.
Cohen Really Likes the Stock
The buy extends a run of insider accumulation that began earlier this month. Cohen picked up one million shares on Sept. 10 at an average near $20.38, roughly a $20.4 million ticket, and three directors — Lawrence Cheng, James Grube and Alain Attal — added shares in the same week.
Monday’s purchase came at a price more than 12% above where Cohen was buying 11 days earlier, a notable shift for a buyer who has historically stepped in on weakness.
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The backdrop is a business leaning harder on collectibles. GameStop’s second-quarter adjusted earnings of 27 cents per share beat the 19 cent consensus, and operating income of $160.2 million marked a company record for the period even as revenue fell 18.7% year-over-year to $790.2 million. Management lifted full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance above $650 million.
Still unresolved is Cohen’s pursuit of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), whose board rejected GameStop’s roughly $56 billion cash-and-stock offer at $125 per share as “neither credible nor attractive.” GameStop has said it intends to keep pressing.
Why It Matters
At a $10.2 billion market cap, Cohen’s direct stake is roughly 9% of the company, and every open-market add tightens an already reflexive float. For traders, unplanned CEO buying at rising prices is the cleaner signal here.
GME Price Action: GameStop shares closed up 0.53% at $22.76 on Monday and were tradeing 2.37% higher at $23.30 after hours, according to Benzinga Pro market data.
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