Ryan Cohen's $35 Billion Incentive: Can GameStop's CEO Deliver a 10x Return?

When Tesla announced its massive compensation package for Elon Musk, the financial world took notice. Now, GameStop is following a similar playbook by proposing an enormous long-term performance award for Ryan Cohen, the company’s CEO since late 2023. This move signals a bold bet on Cohen’s ability to transform the struggling retailer into a multi-hundred-billion-dollar enterprise—if he can hit some extraordinarily ambitious targets.

The Massive Performance Award Tied to Ryan Cohen’s Future Success

The incentive structure for Ryan Cohen breaks from traditional compensation models. Rather than guaranteeing salary, cash bonuses, or time-based stock vesting, the plan ties his entire compensation to measurable growth milestones. GameStop plans to grant Cohen stock options to purchase over 171.5 million shares at a strike price of $20.66—representing an initial value exceeding $3.5 billion.

To unlock the full award worth over $35 billion, Ryan Cohen would need to guide GameStop to achieve $10 billion in EBITDA while simultaneously driving the company’s market capitalization to $100 billion. These aren’t incremental targets; they represent transformational growth benchmarks that would require fundamentally reshaping the business.

The vesting structure releases tranches of Cohen’s reward as the company hits intermediate milestones. The first block—representing 10% of the total incentive—vests when GameStop reaches a $20 billion market cap and generates $2 billion in EBITDA. The progression creates a clear incentive ladder, with Ryan Cohen earning greater rewards as the company achieves each successive threshold. As of the latest reporting, GameStop trades at approximately a $10.3 billion market cap with roughly $136 million in EBITDA generated over nearly ten months of 2025—suggesting a substantial runway remains before even the first tranche becomes attainable.

The plan requires shareholder approval at a special meeting expected in March or April, adding another layer of uncertainty to this unconventional compensation arrangement.

GameStop’s Business Transformation Under Ryan Cohen’s Leadership

Since Ryan Cohen assumed the CEO role, the company has pursued a deliberate operational overhaul. The strategy centers on shrinking the brick-and-mortar footprint while aggressively developing newer revenue streams, most notably the collectibles business, which has become a bright spot in the company’s portfolio.

The collectibles division tells an important story about GameStop’s evolving identity. Through the first three quarters of 2025, collectibles now accounts for nearly 28% of total company revenue—a dramatic expansion compared to historical levels. This newer business has generated significant growth and provided a crucial offset to declines in other segments.

However, not all divisions are thriving under Ryan Cohen’s watch. The software business, which focuses on selling new and pre-owned video games, continues experiencing steep declines. The company’s largest business segment—hardware sales including video game consoles—also faces headwinds, though the rate of decline has moderated considerably. Collectively, these two struggling segments still represent over 70% of total revenue, creating a structural vulnerability in the company’s financial foundation.

Despite these challenges, GameStop has demonstrated tangible operational improvements. Operating cash flow, EBITDA, and earnings have all shown meaningful year-over-year improvements, reflecting Ryan Cohen’s efforts to rationalize costs and reallocate resources toward higher-margin businesses like collectibles.

Evaluating the Investment Case When Ryan Cohen’s Rewards Are on the Line

From a capability standpoint, few would question whether Ryan Cohen possesses the operational skills to execute transformational change. His track record and existing 9%+ stake in GameStop demonstrate serious commitment. The newly structured incentives have never been more powerful, theoretically aligning his interests with shareholder returns at an unprecedented level.

Yet the valuation argument grows harder to defend. GameStop currently trades at approximately 27 times its annualized 2025 earnings—a considerable multiple for a company attempting to stabilize revenue in its two largest business segments that collectively generate over 70% of sales. Historical precedent suggests that struggling retailers trading at premium multiples face an uphill battle returning to normalized valuations, let alone experiencing tenfold expansion.

The market has always known that GameStop possesses a certain “meme factor” that can produce outsized price movements disconnected from fundamentals. However, even accounting for this dynamic and acknowledging Ryan Cohen’s demonstrated capabilities, the mathematical challenge of reaching the $100 billion market cap target remains daunting. The company would need to not only stabilize its core gaming retail business but also scale the collectibles division into something substantially larger while maintaining profitability at elevated levels.

The fundamental arithmetic of the investment case still requires substantial conviction that Ryan Cohen can execute one of retail’s most dramatic turnarounds while simultaneously navigating a declining video game hardware market and an uncertain collectibles segment trajectory. From a pure value perspective, current valuations appear optimistic relative to the business’s recent trajectory and competitive position.