By Mackenzie Tatananni
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has been building a stake in the beleaguered video-game retailer for half a decade, and recent securities filings show his piece of the pie is only getting larger.
Cohen bought 500,000 shares for roughly $21.12 apiece on Tuesday, according to a Schedule 13D filing the same day. On Wednesday, Cohen bought an additional 500,000 shares for around $21.60 each.
The purchases came out to roughly $21.4 million worth of GameStop stock. Following the latest transactions, Cohen owned more than 42 million shares, representing a 9.3% stake in the company.
A Schedule 13D is required for major shareholders who acquire more than 5% of a company's voting shares. Cohen stated in the filing that it was "essential" for the CEOs of public companies to buy shares with their personal funds "in order to further strengthen alignment with stockholders."
Any CEO who fails to do so "should be fired," Cohen added. GameStop directed Barron's to the filing when approached for comment.
Cohen wasn't the only insider to recently pick up stock. Also on Tuesday, board member Alain Attal snapped up 12,000 shares for an average price of $20.90 each, according to a separate securities filing.
The purchase marked Attal's first purchase since April of last year. It brought his direct holdings to 584,464 shares, which were worth some $12.3 million based on Wednesday's closing price of $21.10.
Cohen assumed the top role in 2023, two years after becoming chairman. He first revealed an activist stake in GameStop in 2020.
The retailer earlier this month proposed a new pay package for Cohen, which includes options to buy 171.5 million shares at $20.66 apiece if GameStop hits a $100 billion market capitalization and other targets.
If the company fails to reach a market cap of $20 billion and $2 billion in cumulative earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, Cohen gets nothing. The proposal goes to a shareholder vote later this year. GameStop's market value stood at $9.5 billion as of Wednesday.
Shares are trading below the highs they reached in 2021, at the height of the meme-stock craze that thrust GameStop into the public eye and propelled it away from bankruptcy.
The retailer's core video-game business remains challenged, even as its profitability and cash position improve. Revenue has fallen sequentially for the past several quarters, ticking 4.5% lower in the three months ended Nov. 1.
GameStop appeared to reposition itself as a Bitcoin treasury company in 2025 through the purchase of 4,710 tokens. However, it appears to have hit pause on those aspirations. A Form 10-Q filed last month shows the company hasn't purchased any more Bitcoin as of its third fiscal quarter, the three months through Nov. 1.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron's feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members -- so-called insiders -- as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2026 21:30 ET (02:30 GMT)
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