GameStop soars as activist investor wants to play

GameStop Corp.’s largest individual investor upped his stake and has plans for the company to take on Amazon.

Ryan Cohen, founder of online pet food supplier Chewy Inc., bought 6.5 million shares of the Grapevine, Texas-based videogame retailer, raising his stake to 9.98%.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
GME	GAMESTOP CORP.	10.31	+0.01	+0.10%

Cohen has expressed a “willingness to become more involved in the company under certain circumstances” and aims to “produce the best results for all shareholders,” according to a regulatory filing.

He wants to transform the company into an e-commerce behemoth that sells a wide variety of merchandise with fast shipping, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Some of Cohen’s ideas include giving customers the ability to trade in games online, and provide users with more streaming options. Cohen has transformed Chewy into a $21.86 billion company after its initial public offering on June 10, 2019, garnered an $8.8 billion valuation.

GameStop did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment regarding Cohen’s proposals.

The retailer reported sales during the three months through June slumped 27% from a year ago, struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic despite videogame spending reaching its highest level in 10 years.

The company expects a surge in demand during the upcoming holiday quarter as the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 will both be released in November.

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GameStop shares were up 44% this year through Monday.