Finance

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen hikes his personal stake in Alibaba to $1 billion, WSJ says

Published

24 hours ago

February 20, 2025

Business Finance News

GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen.

CNBC

GameStop CEO and billionaire investor Ryan Cohen has increased his personal stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to roughly 7 million shares worth about $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said the sizable stake in Alibaba is a bullish bet on China’s economic growth in the long run.

Cohen wasn’t immediately available when CNBC reached out for comment.

The news came after the Chinese titan posted a sharp profit hike in the December quarter amid strength in its Cloud Intelligence unit and e-commerce segment. Shares of Alibaba surged 8.1% on Thursday.

In 2023, the investor urged Alibaba to increase buybacks as he believed the stock was severely undervalued, the Journal said.

Alibaba’s outspoken founder, Jack Ma, who has largely kept out of the public eye since 2020, was among the entrepreneurs who attended a rare closed-door meeting headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, during which the Beijing leader urged private businesses to “show their talents” and strengthen their confidence in a “new era” for their activity.

Cohen became CEO of meme stock GameStop after his involvement in the video game retailer partly triggered a historic trading mania on Wall Street in 2021. The investor, who co-founded Chewy, has been leading a turnaround in the brick-and-mortar retailer over the past few years.

Under Cohen’s leadership, GameStop has focused on cutting costs and streamlining operations to ensure the business is profitable even though it is not growing. Earlier this month, CNBC reported GameStop was considering investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

— Click here to read the WSJ story.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Finance

Steve Cohen says tariffs and DOGE’s cuts are negative for economy, market correction could be soon

Published

2 hours ago

February 21, 2025

Business Finance News

Steve Cohen, chairman and CEO of Point72, speaking to CNBC on April 3, 2024.

CNBC

Billionaire investor Steve Cohen doubled down on his negative view of the U.S. economy due to a backdrop of punitive tariffs, immigration crackdown and federal spending cuts spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency.

The chairman and CEO of hedge fund Point72 said he turned bearish for the first time in a while after President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policy made him worry about inflationary pressures and lower consumer spending. Meanwhile, his tough stance on immigration could mean a constrained supply of labor, he said.

“Tariffs cannot be positive, okay? I mean, it’s a tax,” Cohen said Friday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Fla. “On top of that, we have slowing immigration, which means the labor force will not grow as rapidly as … the last five years and so.”

The prominent hedge fund investor took a stab at DOGE’s cost-cutting moves led by Elon Musk, saying they could only hurt the economy more. Musk has said his goal is to cut federal spending by $2 trillion.

“When that money has been coursing through the economy over many years, and now, potentially it will be reduced or stopped in many ways, has got to be negative for the economy,” Cohen said.

Cohen believes a pullback in the stock market could be likely given the uncertain macroeconomic environment. He sees the U.S. economy growth to slow down to 1.5% from 2.5% in the second half of the year.

“I think we’re seeing the regime shift a little bit. It may only last a year or so, but it’s definitely a period where I think the best gains have been had and wouldn’t surprise me to see a significant correction,” Cohen said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a disaster.”