GameStop Savior Ryan Cohen Seems To Have Found His Next Turnaround Target: 'Once A Great American Brand'

Activist investor Ryan Cohen posted a cryptic tweet late Wednesday that sent Twitter into a guessing game.

What Happened: Cohen, who took a stake in electronics retailer GameStop Corp. GME and has been instrumental in its turnaround, suggested in a tweet that he spoke to a company, which was once a "great American brand."

He commented that the company is fraught with problems and its high-paid executives have had no accountability. The company showed “little interest” in his offer for help, which was extended free of cost, the Canadian businessman said.

"This could get interesting," he added.

I just got off the phone with what was once a great American brand. Lots of problems, no accountability for high paid execs and little interest in my help (at no cost). This could get interesting.

— Ryan Cohen (@ryancohen) April 12, 2023

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Why It's Important:  Cohen's initiatives at GameStop have borne fruit, as was evident from the recent quarterly results. The entrepreneur, through his RC Ventures, picked up a stake in GameStop in 2020 and began pushing for changes that included shifting focus to online sales and shuttering unprofitable stores in malls.

He took over as the chairman of the retailer in mid-2021.

Cohen's cryptic tweet elicited responses from his Twitter followers, with McDonald's Corp. MCD and Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. BBBY among the names thrown around.

Home furnishing retailer Bed Bath & Beyond is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, stung by company-specific issues and the broader retail industry woes.

A proxy statement recently filed by the company showed that the company is seeking shareholder approval for a reverse split at the May 9 meeting. This would leave the company with enough shares to raise up to $300 million from a common stock offering the company announced recently.

Cohen has a Bed Bath & Beyond connection as he purchased seven million shares and call options of the retailer in March 2022 following which the company added his slate of directors to its board and also replaced its CEO. In August, Cohen dumped his entire stake in the retailer.

Bed Bath & Beyond as well as GameStop have been characterized as meme stocks, with retailers pumping up these stocks through social media posts during the heights of meme mania.

Cohen also recently picked up a stake in luxury department store retailer Nordstrom, Inc. JWN.

Read Next: Activist Investor Ryan Cohen Buys Stake In Nordstrom, Urges Board Shakeup

Photo: Courtesy of Bill Jerome on Flickr