TLDR
- Michael Burry disclosed he’s accumulating GameStop shares, viewing it as a value opportunity
- Burry backs Ryan Cohen’s plan to use $4.7 billion in cash for strategic investments
- GME stock rallied 8% Monday following Burry’s announcement on Substack
- Cohen purchased 1 million shares last week for $21.4 million with personal funds
- Shareholders vote soon on Cohen’s performance-based compensation tied to $100 billion valuation target
Michael Burry has taken a new position in GameStop. The investor known for predicting the 2008 housing crash announced Monday he’s been buying shares of the video game retailer.
GME stock jumped as much as 8% after Burry’s Substack post went public. He revealed he’s purchasing shares at what he estimates is 1x tangible book value.
“I own GME. I have been buying recently,” Burry wrote. He expects to get “a young Ryan Cohen investing and deploying the company’s capital and cash flows.”
This marks Burry’s return to GameStop. He originally invested in 2019 but exited in late 2020 before the meme stock frenzy took off in January 2021.
Burry emphasized this is a fundamental value play. “I am not counting on a short squeeze to realize long-term value,” he stated clearly.
The Cohen Connection
Burry’s investment thesis revolves around CEO Ryan Cohen. GameStop holds $4.7 billion in net cash after raising money during periods of heightened retail investor interest.
Cohen became chairman in June 2021 and CEO in 2023. He’s drawn comparisons to Warren Buffett’s transformation of Berkshire Hathaway from a failing textile business into a diversified conglomerate.
“I believe in Ryan, I like the setup, the governance, the strategy as I see it,” Burry wrote. “I am willing to hold long-term.”
Cohen says GameStop is open to deploying cash outside its traditional retail operations. The company has moved into collectibles and started buying bitcoin last year.
“It’s really driven by maximizing return, and frankly, not losing money,” Cohen told Barron’s. “That’s step number one.”
GameStop has slashed its store footprint from 4,816 locations in January 2021 to 3,203 as of February 2025. The company is extracting value from a shrinking retail business while building a war chest for acquisitions.
Financial Performance and Compensation
GameStop posted its sixth consecutive profitable quarter recently. Net income jumped 343% to $77.1 million, even as sales declined 4.6% to $821 million.
Cohen hasn’t taken a salary as CEO until now. Shareholders will vote between March and April on a performance-based compensation package.
The plan would grant Cohen options for up to 171.5 million shares at $20.66 each. He only receives compensation if GameStop achieves specific milestones.
These targets include expanding market value to $100 billion and generating $10 billion in cumulative performance EBITDA. The awards are split into nine tranches for partial payouts along the way.
GameStop stressed that Cohen gets “no guaranteed pay—no salary, no cash bonuses, and no stock that vests simply over time.” His entire compensation depends on hitting performance goals.
Cohen has been buying shares on the open market. Last week he spent roughly $21.4 million purchasing 1 million GME shares with personal funds.
In an SEC filing, Cohen said it’s “essential” for a public company CEO to buy shares with their own money to “further strengthen alignment with stockholders.”
Burry acknowledged he doesn’t fully understand GameStop’s bitcoin strategy but said he “cannot argue with what has been done so far.” He recently closed his hedge fund Scion Asset Management before building his GameStop position.
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