rewrite this title GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen hikes his personal stake in Alibaba to $1 billion, WSJ says

GameStop CEO and billionaire investor Ryan Cohen has increased his personal stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to roughly 7 million shares worth about $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said the sizable stake in Alibaba is a bullish bet on China’s economic growth in the long run.

Cohen wasn’t immediately available when CNBC reached out for comment.

The news came after the Chinese titan posted a sharp profit hike in the December quarter amid strength in its Cloud Intelligence unit and e-commerce segment. Shares of Alibaba surged 8.1% on Thursday.

In 2023, the investor urged Alibaba to increase buybacks as he believed the stock was severely undervalued, the Journal said.

Alibaba’s outspoken founder, Jack Ma, who has largely kept out of the public eye since 2020, was among the entrepreneurs who attended a rare closed-door meeting headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, during which the Beijing leader urged private businesses to “show their talents” and strengthen their confidence in a “new era” for their activity.

Cohen became CEO of meme stock GameStop after his involvement in the video game retailer partly triggered a historic trading mania on Wall Street in 2021. The investor, who co-founded Chewy, has been leading a turnaround in the brick-and-mortar retailer over the past few years.

Under Cohen’s leadership, GameStop has focused on cutting costs and streamlining operations to ensure the business is profitable even though it is not growing. Earlier this month, CNBC reported GameStop was considering investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

— Click here to read the WSJ story.