GameStop Buys $512 Million in Bitcoin, Stock Price Slides on the News

Embattled video game and collectibles retailer GameStop has made a bold move into its previously announced bitcoin play, according to CNBC.

Following the board’s unanimous approval of adding bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset to the company balance sheet back in March — alongside a stated plan to raise $1.3 billion via convertible senior notes to purchase the cryptocurrency, as Yahoo! Finance reported — GameStop saw its share price tumble by nearly 25% on March 27 alone, negating a 12% gain after the initial announcement of the board’s plan.

Now, the company led by CEO Ryan Cohen has announced the purchase of 4,710 bitcoin, worth an estimated $512 million based on the crypto’s price of $108,837 on May 27. CNBC’s Yun Li gestured toward the fact that, as of Feb. 1, the company had been sitting on a $4.76 billion cash reserve, per its April-released annual report.

GameStop Stock Remains up YTD Following Bitcoin Buy, Corporate America Signals Interest in Holding the Coin

With all that being said, the retailer’s share price remains up about 3.5% year-to-date, despite the significant downtrend observed on May 28. And despite the short-term dip, it appears that GameStop — with Cohen at the helm, known for his embrace of bitcoin and other notable crypto assets — is echoing a move made by an established software company.

“GameStop is following in the footsteps of software company MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, which bought billions of dollars worth of bitcoin in recent years to become the largest corporate holder of the flagship cryptocurrency,” Li wrote.

“That decision prompted a rapid, albeit volatile, rise for Strategy’s stock,” she added.

And as Yahoo! Finance senior business reporter Ines Ferre pointed out, Strategy’s move (now GameStop’s play as well) follows a trend of public companies adding bitcoin to their investment holdings. Ferre quoted Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani as stating that the increasing adoption of bitcoin by various corporate entities represents a solid sign of confidence in the crypto’s ability to generate future value.

“Globally, ~80 corporates have adopted the ‘Bitcoin Standard,’ adding BTC to their treasuries and now holding approximately 3.4% of total supply,” Chhugani wrote earlier in May.

Bernstein itself projects that bitcoin will top $200,000 as 2025 draws to a close; if so, Cohen — and GameStop investors along with him — will likely breathe a bit easier as the company continues its rocky turnaround effort.