By Ryan Cohen, the GameStop CEO and Chewy founder, has reportedly grown a large stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Cohen, whose leadership of meme stock favorite GameStop has made him an icon among retail traders, has been steadily adding to his position in Alibaba in recent months. His stake in the company has swelled to around 7 million shares worth about $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The report said that Cohen has been in private discussions with Alibaba recently, though the Journal couldn’t determine Cohen’s future plans regarding the company.
In 2023, Coehn had pushed the firm to repurchase its shares at a faster pace, as he believed Alibaba stock was undervalued, sources told the Journal.
Cohen, who became the CEO of GameStop a few years after the company’s meme stock craze, has been known to move markets with his past investments.
In 2022, he sent the price of Bed Bath & Beyond soaring after revealing he had a nearly 10% stake in the home goods retailer, making him one of the company’s top shareholders. Several months later, he sold his entire stake in the company, sending its stock price plummeting 43%.
Alibaba stock was up 4% on Friday, extending gains from Thursday’s session when it jumped 8% after strong earnings. Shares were trading at $142.60 around 10:30 a.m. ET.
