GameStop CEO Pours $97 Million Into His Own Stock: What the Spree Signals?

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen bought another $22.8 million in company shares, according to a regulatory filing published October 13. His disclosed purchases since September 10 now total about $97 million across five trades.

Cohen kept buying even as the price climbed. He paid about $20 per share in his first trade and almost $27 in the latest one, close to the stock’s 52-week high.

What the GameStop CEO’s Buying Spree Signals

The latest trade covered 844,130 shares at $26.75 to $27 each, according to Reuters. Including warrants, Cohen now holds 46.2 million shares, or roughly 9.1% of the company.

He spent $17.1 million on October 2. Three September trades added another $57 million, MarketBeat data shows.

However, the GameStop CEO is not buying alone. Directors Lawrence Cheng, James Grube, and Alain Attal also bought shares in September, according to SEC filings.

Analysts often read insider buying as a sign that executives consider a stock undervalued.

In June, Cohen asked the board to withdraw a performance award worth up to $35 billion, citing the eBay bid. Earlier, eBay had rejected GameStop’s takeover bid, worth about $56 billion.

What Else Sits Behind Cohen’s Bet

Separately, eBay shareholders voted in June to reject a governance proposal that would have let a single 10% holder call a special meeting on its own. GameStop held nearly 9% of eBay at the time.

That defeat closed one route for Cohen to pressure eBay’s board without other investors.

Two months later, Bloomberg reported that the GameStop CEO was weighing a partnership or joint venture with eBay instead of a full takeover.

GameStop shares are up about 35% so far this year. Still, the GameStop CEO’s spree raises the stakes of his next eBay move.

That matters because dilution is already a sore point for shareholders. In August, a debt-for-stock swap added about 55.5 million new shares, roughly 12% of the share count at the time.

GameStop’s original eBay offer mixed cash and stock in equal parts. Reviving a deal on those terms would issue even more shares and dilute the stake Cohen keeps building.