GameStop (GME) CEO Ryan Cohen Adds $22.8 Million in Shares, Filing Shows

GameStop (GME) chief executive Ryan Cohen bought another $22.8 million of company shares, according to an insider transaction filing published on Tuesday, October 13. The purchase lifts his disclosed buying since September 10 to roughly $97 million across five separate trades, a run that has continued even as the share price climbed. The latest trade covered 844,130 shares at prices between $26.75 and $27 each. That band sits close to the stock's 52-week high, and Cohen paid it anyway: his first purchase in this series went through near $20 per share, so the average price he has accepted has risen by more than a third in about a month. Including warrants, Cohen now holds 46.2 million shares, or roughly 9.1% of the company. Warrants convert into common shares under set terms, so the reported stake marks where his ownership is headed rather than where it stands today. The $97 million tally covers only purchases reported since September 10; it does not include any earlier positions Cohen held. The filings also record a $17.1 million purchase on October 2, while three September trades added about $57 million in total. Cohen is not buying alone. SEC filings show that directors Lawrence Cheng, James Grube and Alain Attal each bought shares in September as well. Investors typically read a cluster of insider purchases this concentrated as management's own judgment that the stock trades below what it is worth. GameStop shares are up about 35% so far this year, and Cohen's buying has tracked that rise rather than fading into it.

The eBay Bid and the Dilution Problem

The buying spree matters beyond its size because of what Cohen is chasing. In June he asked GameStop's board to withdraw a performance award worth up to $35 billion, citing the eBay bid. eBay had already rejected GameStop's takeover offer, valued at about $56 billion. eBay shareholders, for their part, voted in June to reject a governance proposal that would have let any single 10% holder call a special meeting on its own; GameStop held nearly 9% of eBay at the time. That vote showed other shareholders were not prepared to hand one holder unilateral power, and it closed a route Cohen could have used to pressure eBay's board without rallying other investors first. Two months later, reports indicated the GameStop chief executive was weighing a partnership or joint venture with eBay instead of a full takeover. Dilution sits at the center of the arithmetic. In August, a debt-for-stock swap added about 55.5 million new shares, roughly 12% of the share count at the time, enlarging the company's market cap without bringing in new cash. 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 precisely the stake Cohen has spent $97 million building. A cash-and-stock structure would cut both ways for him, since GameStop also holds nearly 9% of eBay.

Price Presses the $28.39 Resistance

The stock trades at $27.63, up 1.69% in the past 24 hours, per COINOTAG data, just under the resistance level at $28.39, which our composite scoring rates 80 out of 100. The session range has run from $26.81 to $28.35, so trading has pressed against that ceiling without breaking it since the filing. The nearest support below sits at $27.33, scored 76 out of 100. The daily trend reads as an uptrend, with the price above its moving average and the relative strength index at 77.3, an extended reading. Perpetual open interest on the stock perpetual stands at about $1.69 million, a modest derivatives footprint even though stock futures on crypto venues give traders a route into listed names. A daily close above $28.39 would confirm Cohen's buying band as the new base.