Catenaa, Wednesday, January 07, 2026- GameStop on Wednesday unveiled a compensation package worth roughly $35 billion for CEO Ryan Cohen, which requires him to lift the struggling videogame retailer’s market value.
Hitting the targets will require a significant shift at GameStop, as the brick-and-mortar store operator has been losing millions in revenue in recent years, with gamers turning to the web for purchases.
The proposal, which will go to a shareholder vote in March or April, sets lofty targets. Cohen will receive stock options to purchase 171.5 million shares at $20.66 apiece if GameStop hits a $100 billion market cap, and $10 billion in what the company calls “cumulative performance” earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
The company’s market cap was $9.26 billion as of the close of trading on Tuesday. It hit a record of about $34 billion in the 2021 meme stock rally.
Cohen will receive no guaranteed pay in the form of salary, cash bonuses, or stock options under the package, the company said.
The company’s annual revenue has plummeted more than 35% since 2022, while its stock price is down 80% from all-time highs hit in 2021, when it became a retail investor darling during the pandemic-era meme-stock rally.
GameStop’s shares rose more than 5% on Wednesday. The stock was the second-top trending name on Stocktwits, a website popular with individual investors.
The award resembles the 10-year incentive plan approved for Elon Musk at Tesla, under which his compensation is tied entirely to stock options that vest only if an ambitious market value target and other operating profit goals are met.
On the bright side, the company is on track for its third straight fiscal year of positive EBITDA, with earnings posting $136.4 million through three quarters of fiscal 2026, already the best figure since 2020, but still well below the targets established in Cohen’s proposed pay package.
GameStop’s market capitalization target represents a total award value of nearly $35 billion for Cohen, excluding an exercise cost of about $3.5 billion, based on Reuters calculations.
