GameStop (NYSE:GME) stock is up more than 10% today after newly appointed Executive Chairman Ryan Cohen disclosed a $10 million insider purchase. On June 9, Cohen purchased 443,842 shares at average prices ranging between $22.24 and $22.90 through his investment vehicle, RC Ventures.
Following the transaction, Cohen now owns a total of 36.84 million shares, representing a 12.1% ownership stake. In addition, the Executive Chairman remains the largest shareholder of GME stock, beating out investment giants such as Vanguard and BlackRock (NYSE:BLK).
Shares of GME are up more than 50% so far this year, although that hasn’t stopped insiders from buying in. In fact, not a single insider has sold shares on the open market in 2023. Let’s get into the details.
Ryan Cohen Purchases $10 Million of GME Stock
Cohen isn’t the only insider to have recently purchased shares. On June 9, Director Alain Attal purchased 10,000 shares worth about $224,000, bringing his total stake to 538,692 shares. On the same day, Director Lawrence Cheng purchased 5,000 shares worth about $111,900, which lifted his position to 49,088 shares.
Cohen, Attal and Cheng are the three GameStop insiders who have purchased a total of $10.45 million worth of shares this year. An overwhelming majority of the purchases occurred after Cohen was appointed as Executive Chairman, which may be a stamp of confidence for the leader.
GameStop reported its first-quarter earnings on June 7 and also announced that CEO Matt Furlong had been terminated from his position. Meanwhile, Mark Robinson was named as the “new principal executive officer” with the title of General Manager. At the time, GameStop warned:
“Leadership transitions can be inherently difficult to manage, and failure to timely or successfully implement transitions may cause disruption within the Company, including execution of our transformational plans.”
During Q1, the video game retailer reported a net loss of $50.5 million, up from a net loss of $157.9 million a year ago. Revenue came in at $1.237 billion, down from $1.378 billion a year ago and missing the analyst estimate for $1.358 billion. Hardware and accessories was the largest driver of revenue, totaling $725.8 million and improving from $673.8 million a year ago. Meanwhile, software and collectibles revenue was disappointing, as they both fell by over 20%. Guidance for the upcoming quarter or year was not provided as usual.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
