GameStop has been in hot water for some time now. But the company’s CEO, Ryan Cohen, should escape relatively unscathed.because, thanks to CNN, we now know that he will get a $35 billion payout if the showcase hits a $100 billion market cap. One small problem: that’s about 10 times its current value.
How does Cohen plan to achieve this? Thanks to a Polygon reportit is known that it plans to close hundreds of stores and offer customers a 20 percent trade-in bonus via a QR code. Although we do not have concrete figures on the exact number of stores closed, a publish on a blog which follows the GameStop closures reports that nearly 400 stores have already been closed this month or are expected to be closed before the end of the month.
The commercial coupon, for its part, was shared on the GameStop Official Reddit from a user who expressed frustration over their local store closing, saying “Did GameStop really put a shopping coupon on my local store closing sign?” In this same thread, the the original poster expressed his frustrations by calling him out “a fucking joke”, while others said they had started canceling pre-orders.
It’s also worth noting that GameStop has closed 590 stores in 2024, according to a December 2025 SEC Filing. The filing goes on to say that the company plans to “close a significant number of additional stores during fiscal 2025.” This is important because fiscal year 2025 ends on January 31, 2026, meaning more stores could close sooner rather than later. GameStop also closed stories in various countries around the world. The same SEC filing indicates that the company has already “exited” its operations in Austria, Ireland and Switzerland. In 2024, it also closed its stores in Germany while selling its Italian subsidiary.
Even while closing stores en masse, GameStop has done everything it can to draw attention to its storefronts again in recent months, partnering with popular influencers such as Casey Neistat and Mega64, and even with Rilie Huntleya popular e-girl who originally went viral thanks to a Best Buy commercial. Most recently, the company had a “trade anything every day” who saw people bringing all sorts of things, including sex toys. A few days earlier, the GameStop card loot scheme led to record $30,000 trade.