CEO Ryan Cohen purchased 1,150,680 shares of GameStop Class A common stock on Monday, spending roughly $26.4 million and pushing his total stake past 40 million shares, according to a Form 4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The weighted average price across Cohen's transactions was $22.9375 per share, with execution prices ranging from $22.76 to $23.02, the filing indicates. His direct holdings now stand at 40,498,522 shares.
No Rule 10b5-1 designation appears on the filing, which indicates Cohen did not execute the purchase through a pre-scheduled trading plan, according to Benzinga. GameStop stock closed up 0.53% at $22.76 on Monday and rose about 3% in postmarket trading. Monday's buy continues a stretch of insider accumulation.
Cohen purchased one million shares on Sept. 10 at an average price near $20.38, and three GameStop directors — Lawrence Cheng, James Grube, and Alain Attal — also bought shares that same week, according to Benzinga. The per-share cost on Monday represented a premium of more than 12% compared with what Cohen paid just 11 days before. In its most recent quarter, GameStop reported adjusted earnings of 27 cents per share, while revenue came in at $790.2 million, down 18.7% from the same period a year ago.
The quarter's $160.2 million operating income set a new high-water mark for the company, and GameStop's management increased its full-year adjusted EBITDA outlook to exceed $650 million. Cohen has been pursuing a major acquisition while building his personal stake. GameStop put forward a non-binding proposal to acquire all of eBay's outstanding shares at $125 apiece, split evenly between cash and GameStop stock, valuing eBay's equity at roughly $55.5 billion. eBay's board rejected the offer, calling it "neither credible nor attractive." GameStop has said it intends to keep pressing.
More recently, Cohen has been considering withdrawing the takeover bid in favor of a partnership or joint venture with eBay, under which GameStop's roughly 1,600 U.S. stores would give eBay a physical retail footprint in categories such as trading cards and collectibles. GameStop had not made a final decision as of that report. In July, GameStop disclosed it had increased its eBay stake to 9.75%, making it eBay's second-largest shareholder behind Vanguard Group funds.
At GameStop's current market cap of roughly $10.2 billion, Cohen's direct stake represents approximately 9% of the company, according to Benzinga.
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