Quote · All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen's $56B Plan to Take Over eBay
Where this was said
Post-Chewy life and the road to GameStop CEO
At 16:33 · chapter starts 11:58
Cohen describes his post-Chewy framework for finding undervalued companies, how GameStop management unwittingly invited him as a 'patsy' board member, and how he ended up filing a 13D and eventually becoming CEO. [1] — Ryan Cohen "GameStop's management invited Cohen onto the board thinking he'd be their friendly shield against an activist investor. He wasn't. Cohen cr…" 13:13
GameStop's management invited Cohen onto the board thinking he'd be their friendly shield against an activist investor. He wasn't. Cohen crossed 5%, filed a 13D, and eventually took the CEO role because no one else was up to it.
Cohen's original thesis was simple: GameStop was likely to survive until the next PlayStation and Xbox console cycle, when hardware scarcity drives foot traffic. Everything changed when he was pulled deeper into the business.
GameStop raised $1.7 billion in 2021, using the proceeds to wipe out all of the company's debt.
Cohen tried to turn GameStop into Chewy by hiring e-commerce talent. It was wrong. Unlike Chewy's recurring consumables, GameStop sold discretionary physical inventory that could sit unsold in stores. He pivoted to collectibles instead.
