Finance

GameStop, MicroStrategy shares rise after Ryan Cohen posts photo with Michael Saylor

Published

2 weeks ago

February 10, 2025

Traders work underneath GameStop Corp. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Friday, June 7, 2024.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of GameStop and MicroStrategy were on the rise Monday after Ryan Cohen, CEO of the video game retailer, posted a photo with Michael Saylor, co-founder and chairman of the largest corporate holder of bitcoin.

GameStop, day traders’ favorite meme stock, climbed more than 3%, while MicroStrategy, which recently rebranded as “Strategy,” saw shares rising 2.6%. Cohen uploaded the photo over the weekend on X, sparking speculation that GameStop is plotting another strategy around crypto.

The video game company had expanded into digital services in recent years by offering crypto wallets that let users manage their crypto and nonfungible tokens. However, the firm shut the service down in 2023, citing “regulatory uncertainty.”

Cohen, co-founder of Chewy, bought shares in GameStop in 2020 and joined the board in 2021 as GameStop became one of the key stocks in the WallStreetBets meme trading mania.

His e-commerce experience fueled hopes that he could help modernize the brick-and-mortar retailer, but the company still struggles to adapt to changing spending habits by gamers. Trading in the stock remains highly volatile and speculative as meme stock personality “Roaring Kitty” continues to spur buying from retail investors.

Saylor’s Strategy also has a fan base of retail investors as the firm touted its aggressive bitcoin-buying strategy. In the past year, the firm has raised billions of dollars through the sale of stock or convertible bonds for the sole purpose of purchasing more bitcoin.

Last week, Strategy said it’s almost halfway to its ambitious capital-raising goal as it went on a buying spree throughout the postelection rally. As of Monday, Strategy holds roughly $47 billion worth of bitcoins on its balance sheet, about 2.5% of the total supply.

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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.”