Shares in GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) rose in early U.S. trading on Tuesday after regulatory filings showed that the video game retailer’s executive chairman Ryan Cohen had increased his stake in the company.
According to the documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cohen snapped up an additional 443,842 shares in the Texas-based firm at prices of about $22.25 and $22.91 per share via his activist investment vehicle RC Ventures LLC.
The stake, valued at just under $10.8 million based on GameStop’s closing price on Monday, brings Cohen’s holdings in the company up to 12.10% from its prior level of 11.95%.
Cohen’s purchase comes after a leadership shake-up at GameStop earlier this month that featured the termination of chief executive officer Matt Furlong. At the same time, Cohen, who had become a favorite of meme stock investors after he built stakes in GameStop and now-bankrupt big-box retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, was named as executive chairman.
Despite posting a narrower net loss in the first quarter, net sales for the three months through April dropped by 10% to $1.24 billion. The dip reflected the pressure GameStop’s sales face as downloadable console games dissuade shoppers from buying the hard copies sold at its shops.
