Chewy founder Ryan Cohen has reaped a 1,700% return from a $76 million GameStop investment he made last year

<p><img src="https://static5.businessinsider.com/image/600f1cf34827e700188a138e-2000/Ryan-Cohen-9645.JPG" border="0" alt="Ryan Cohen" data-mce-source="Ryan Cohen"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><ul><li><strong>Chewy.com co-founder Ryan Cohen acquired a 12.9% stake in GameStop last year for $76 million.</strong></li><li><strong>At Monday's high of $159.18, Cohen's stake in the video game retailer had swelled to $1.4 billion, good for a roughly 1,700% return.</strong></li><li><strong>Cohen recently gained three board seats and is pushing the company to transform into a specialized e-commerce retailer.&nbsp;</strong></li><li data-stringify-indent="0"><strong data-stringify-type="bold"><a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell</a></strong><strong data-stringify-type="bold">.</strong></li></ul><hr><p>Activist investor Ryan Cohen's investment into <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gme-stock">GameStop</a> last year proved to be good timing on Monday after shares <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gamestop-stock-price-gme-reddit-retail-day-traders-wallstreetbets-citron-2021-1-1029999747">exploded higher by as much as 145%.</a></p><p>An epic short squeeze rally, combined with pockets of investor euphoria found on popular trading forums like Reddit's WallStreetBets, helped propel shares of GameStop to an all-time high of $159.18 in Tuesday trades.</p><p>Cohen amassed a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gamestop-stock-price-chewy-cofounder-ryan-cohen-activist-investment-stake-2020-12-1029915366">9 million-share stake in GameStop</a> last year at an average price of $8.43, worth $76 million at the time. At it's intra-day high today, that stake was worth as much as $1.4 billion, representing a return of more than 1,700%.</p><p>But Cohen seems to be playing the long-game on GameStop. Through his firm RC Ventures, Cohen had petitioned the board of GameStop to adopt a strategy that would transform the company into a specialized e-commerce retailer of gaming products.</p><p>Cohen utilized a similar strategy for his previous company, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/chwy-stock">Chewy.com</a>, which is a specialized e-commerce retailer of pet products. After being acquired by PetSmart for $3.5 billion, Chewy went public and is now trading at a valuation of more than $43 billion.</p><p>GameStop seems to have been receptive to Cohen's proposal, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gamestop-adds-chewy-ryan-cohen-wall-street-darling-to-board-2021-1#:~:text=On%20Monday%2C%20GameStop%20announced%20that,of%20the%20company's%20new%20board.">granting him three seats on the board of directors</a>, including one for himself.&nbsp;</p><p>Since Cohen's <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326380/000101359420000699/rc13da2-091820.htm">first purchase of shares</a> of GameStop on September 14, shares are up as much as 2,317%.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-picks-to-buy-small-companies-value-names-recovery-bofa-2021-1'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-analytics-position="4" data-analytics-module="">BANK OF AMERICA: Buy these 31 unheralded stocks as the recovery's hottest trades of recent months continue to gain strength in 2021</a></em></p><p><em><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/600f243080e4540019816a02-838/gmeechart.JPG" border="0" alt="gmeechart.JPG" data-mce-source="Markets Insider"></em></p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gamestop-stock-price-investment-ryan-cohen-chewy-founder-1700-return-2021-1-1030000866#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-planes-future-of-aviation-problems-regulations-2020-3">Why electric planes haven't taken off yet</a></p>
Click here to read full news..