GameStop copies the Elon Musk playbook with a $35 billion CEO pay package

GameStop unveils a $35 billion pay package for CEO Ryan Cohen to a 10× market cap surge

GameStop just placed one of the boldest bets in modern corporate pay, unveiling a compensation plan that could hand CEO Ryan Cohen a package worth roughly $35 billion, according to a report from Reuters. The catch is simple and unforgiving: Cohen gets paid only if he pulls off a historic turnaround.

The structure mirrors the high-stakes blueprint popularized by Elon Musk at Tesla, in which compensation is tied only to the far end of extreme performance targets. No salary. No cash bonus. No guaranteed equity. Cohen’s reward depends entirely on outcomes that many investors consider a long shot.

GameStop’s board wants the company’s market value to reach $100 billion and cumulative EBITDA to reach $10 billion. Today, the retailer has a market cap of about $9.26 billion, far from the meme-stock peak of about $34 billion reached during the 2021 trading frenzy. Annual revenue tells an even tougher story, sliding more than 35% since 2022 as gamers continue to shift purchases online.

From Meme Stock to Moonshot: GameStop Ties Ryan Cohen’s Pay to a $100B Valuation

Cohen’s compensation consists of stock options covering more than 171.5 million shares, priced at $20.66 per share. The options vest in nine tranches, with every step tied to specific valuation and profit goals. Based on calculations cited by Reuters, the award has an implied value of roughly $35 billion, excluding roughly $3.5 billion that Cohen would need to spend to exercise those options.

The upside reaches past pay alone. Cohen already owns an 8.3% stake in GameStop, Reuters reported, citing LSEG data. Any surge in valuation would swell the value of that holding alongside the option package.

Cohen joined GameStop’s board in early 2021 and stepped into the CEO role in September 2023. Since then, he has focused on aggressive cost cuts, including the closure of hundreds of physical stores, a move that helped steer the company back to profitability after years of losses. Revenue trends, though, remain under pressure.

Markets reacted with curiosity rather than celebration. GameStop shares rose about 3% in premarket trading after the announcement and quickly became the most discussed ticker on Stocktwits, a familiar pattern for a stock that thrives on retail investor attention.

Shareholders will soon decide whether to proceed with the gamble. The board plans to put the package up for a vote at a special meeting expected in March or April. Approval would lock GameStop into a long-term wager on Cohen’s ability to remake a fading brick-and-mortar icon into something far larger.

For GameStop, this is not a symbolic gesture or a retention perk. It is a binary bet. Either Cohen delivers a once-in-a-generation turnaround, or the $35 billion headline number stays theoretical.