Ryan Cohen Spent $97 Million on GameStop Shares. What His Buying Means

Ryan Cohen, GameStop's chief executive, bought an additional $22.8 million of the company's stock, according to a regulatory filing made public on October 13. His reported purchases over five separate transactions since September 10 now add up to roughly $97 million.

Cohen continued buying as the share price moved higher. He started at approximately $20 per share and most recently paid nearly $27, a level not far from the stock's 52-week peak.

What Ryan Cohen's GameStop Buying Flurry Signals

Reuters reports that the newest purchase consisted of 844,130 shares at prices between $26.75 and $27. Counting warrants, his holdings now stand at 46.2 million shares, around 9.1% of the business.

On October 2, he put $17.1 million into the stock. Three September trades, according to MarketBeat data, brought another $57 million.

Cohen is not the only buyer at the company, however. SEC filings show that directors Lawrence Cheng, James Grube and Alain Attal also purchased shares during September.

Analysts tend to view insider buying as a way executives signal that they believe the stock is undervalued.

In June, Cohen requested that the board rescind a performance award that could be worth as much as $35 billion, with the eBay bid cited as the reason. That request came after eBay had already turned down GameStop's takeover proposal, which was valued at about $56 billion.

Additional Context Around Cohen's GameStop Bet

In a separate June vote, eBay shareholders rejected a governance proposal that would have permitted a single 10% owner to call a special meeting unilaterally. GameStop owned just under 9% of eBay at that point.

That setback removed one avenue for Cohen to pressure eBay's board without other investors on his side.

Bloomberg reported two months later that the GameStop chief executive was considering a partnership or joint venture with eBay rather than an outright takeover.

GameStop stock has climbed roughly 35% on the year. Even so, the CEO's buying run adds weight to his next eBay move.

This is significant because dilution is already a source of shareholder concern. A debt-for-stock exchange in August introduced about 55.5 million new shares, around 12% of the shares outstanding at that time.

GameStop's initial offer for eBay combined cash and stock on a 50-50 basis. Recreating a deal along those lines would need to issue additional stock and would dilute the ownership position Cohen continues to accumulate.