GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen Buys Another 700,000 Shares, Lifting Direct Stake to 41.6 Million

GameStop chairman and CEO Ryan Cohen bought 700,000 shares of GME on Friday, October 2, at a weighted average price of $24.41, about $17.1 million, according to a Form 4 filed with the SEC. The purchase lifted his direct holding to 41,648,522 shares. GameStop closed Friday at $24.70, up 2.45% on the day.

The buy extends a run of open-market purchases. Cohen also bought 1,000,000 shares on September 10, 1,150,680 on September 21 and about 450,000 on September 29, bringing his total since September 10 to about 3.3 million shares and roughly $74.4 million. A widely shared post put the figure at about $57 million, which reflects only the first three purchases and predates Friday's filing. Four directors, including Lawrence Cheng, Alain Attal and Nat Turner, have also bought shares since early September.

The insider buying coincides with a strong run for the stock: GameStop gained 34% in September, its best month in more than two years, and was on track for a fifth straight weekly gain heading into Friday. Separately, Cohen told Business Insider his best investment was time with his father and his worst was trusting the wrong people. What to watch: further Form 4 filings, whether the stock holds its gains without fresh insider buying, and GameStop's next quarterly report for evidence of the operating turnaround that Cohen's purchases imply he expects.