Benzinga - by Chris Katje, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Shares of video game retailer GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) are trading higher on the week, echoing a return of meme stock trading from 2021.
The higher price for shares is good news for Ryan Cohen, CEO of the company and one of the biggest shareholders.
Ryan Cohen's Wealth Gains: GameStop stock has been highly volatile this week with Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, returning to social media platform X for the first time in nearly three years.
Investers started getting excited on Sunday when Roaring Kitty shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) a meme post and a series of video posts featuring movie clips and hinting at GameStop stock.
GameStop shares hit new 52-week highs on both Monday and Tuesday before falling Wednesday.
The rise in GameStop stock helped boost the wealth of Cohen, who owns around 12% of the company. Along with being a key investor in the stock, Cohen also serves as chairman and took over the CEO role in September 2023.
Cohen has a wealth of $4.3 billion, according to the latest estimate from Forbes. Cohen was worth around $4.8 billion on Tuesday before Wednesday's drop in the GameStop share price.
Even though his wealth fell on Wednesday, Cohen sits comfortably ahead of the $3.4 billion wealth valuation he had from Forbes in April 2024 and $3.1 billion in 2023.
On Monday, Cohen's wealth increased by $480 million to $4.2 billion as GameStop shares soared.
Forbes lists Cohen as the 753rd richest person in the world at the time of writing. The $4.3 billion valuation currently misses out on a cutoff of $5.78 billion to crack the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the 500 richest people in the world.
Related Link: Who Is Roaring Kitty? Why Does His Return To Social Media Matter For GameStop Stock?
AMC Stock Helps Boost CEO's Wealth: Another individual who has added to their wealth is AMC CEO Adam Aron.
AMC stock opened for trading at $3.52 on Monday. The stock soared on Monday and Tuesday alongside GameStop. AMC often traded in tandem with GameStop during the 2021 meme stock rally as one of the stocks with high short interest.
AMC shares hit a high of $11.88 on Tuesday and are currently down on Wednesday.
Aron owns around two million shares in AMC according to the CEO.
"I continue to be one of AMC's largest shareholders with an economic interest in about 2 million owned or granted AMC shares. Other than to fund mandatory federal and state income tax withholdings, I have not sold even one AMC share since January 2022. I ride with you," Aron tweeted in April 2024.
The two million shares are worth $10.7 million as of the time of writing with AMC trading at $5.36 per share.
At the weekly high of $11.88 the shares would have been valued at $23.76 million.
At an opening price of $3.52 on Monday, Aron's two million shares were valued at $7.04 million, meaning his wealth is up around $3.68 million from Monday to Wednesday.
Unlike GameStop, which is now up year-to-date, AMC shares have fallen in 2024 and over the last year. AMC shares are down 12% year-to-date in 2024 and down over 80% in the last year.
Aron's stake in the company is likely worth significantly less than it was a year ago, even with this week's share price gain.
Read Next: Meme King Ryan Cohen Now Able To Trade Stocks With GameStop Funds
Photo: Bill Jerome via Flickr Creative Commons
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