Markets
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Luke Kawa

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen is eyeing what he says could be a “genius or totally, totally foolish” major acquisition

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen told The Wall Street Journal that he’s on the hunt for a “big” acquisition in the consumer or retail industry that would ultimately either “be genius or totally, totally foolish.”

During his tenure atop the company, Cohen has been successful in trimming costs and growing the company’s collectibles business. But the potential for him to pursue a “transformative” acquisition — buoyed by all the money the company was able to raise during episodic meme stock rallies — has been cited as a key pillar of the bull case by its investors, including Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, and Michael Burry of “The Big Short” fame, who recently announced that he’s long the stock.

GameStop has recently shifted its crypto holdings from cold storage to Coinbase Prime, which may also hint at a plan to boost liquidity through crypto sales to pursue M&A opportunities. Shares are up 2% as of 4:13 a.m. ET on Friday.

Cohen has a strong incentive to shoot for the moon:

The CEO recently agreed to a package that would tie his pay completely to the company’s market value and the amount of cumulative earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization that the company generates under his leadership.

The proposed deal would see Cohen start to receive stock options in the event that GameStop’s market capitalization exceeds $20 billion while also booking $2 billion in cumulative EBITDA from Q1 2026 onward.

On a closing basis, GameStop has exceeded this $20 billion threshold only during its 2021 meme stock mania. And, due to heavy losses from 2019 through early 2022, it’s taken GameStop a full decade to generate its latest $2 billion in cumulative EBITDA.

Cohen’s pay package has yet to be approved by shareholders, but he’s not waiting for the green light to increase his financial ties to the retailer he runs. Last week, he purchased 1 million shares of company stock for roughly $21.4 million, and opined that any CEO who fails to buy their stock in the open market with their own money should be fired.

Meanwhile, Monday’s revelation that Burry is a GME owner spurred the most retail buying of GameStop shares since late Q1 2025, when the company unveiled its bitcoin treasury strategy, per JPMorgan.

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Helena Cheng

Lululemon’s stretch getting tested: Stock plunges after after outlook is cut

Lululemon shares are down double digits in premarket trading after the company cut its full-year sales and profit outlook, overshadowing a Q1 beat and raising fresh concerns about the brand’s turnaround efforts.

The company now expects fiscal 2026 revenue to be flat to down 1%, compared with its prior forecast for 2% to 4% growth. Guidance for full-year diluted earnings per share was dragged down to a range of $10.95 to $11.15, below the company’s previous guidance of $12.10 to $12.30 and well below Wall Street’s estimate of $13.26.

Key numbers for Q1:

  • EPS of $1.69 vs. the $1.68 expected.

  • Revenue of $2.47 billion vs. the $2.43 billion expected.

The modest top-line beat masked a widening divergence between Lululemon’s geographic markets. While international revenue rose 22% overall with a 30% increase in Mainland China, the bigger problem remains North America, where revenue fell 5%.

Interim co-CEO and CFO Meghan Frank acknowledged during the earnings call that recent product rollouts underperformed. A highly anticipated yoga campaign failed to generate its expected “halo effect” across broader product lines.

Profitability metrics took a major hit, with gross margins contracting by 410 basis points to 54.2% due to mounting tariff costs and promotional markdowns. Operating income consequently fell 37% year over year to $276.9 million.

“We experienced spikes of negative commentary in the media and on social channels with regard to our brand, which had an impact on traffic and overall top-line performance,” Frank said during the earnings call. “And second, not all of our product launches have met our expectations. While we have had several successful launches so far this year, we have seen others as we start Q2 not generate the anticipated guest response.”

Lululemon’s valuation has already been steadily compressing for years. While it was once one of retail’s richly valued stocks, investors have been questioning whether the company can return to the double-digit growth era.

The results also arrive during a leadership transition. Lululemon announced back in April that former Nike executive Heidi O’Neill is set to take over as CEO in September, with investors looking to her to revive growth in North America and restore the brand’s growth.

As Lululemon faces both macroeconomic pressure and brand-specific challenges, its stock has dropped around 40% year to date.

markets
Paige Oamek

US job growth skyrocketed in May, blasting past expectations

The US economy added 172,000 jobs in the month of May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, sending 10-year Treasury yields higher.

The strong May job market surprised economists. Experts had predicted only 85,000 new jobs — just half the reported number. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, as expected.

The job growth story is a hopeful spot for the economy as consumers continue to feel inflationary pressure from the Iran war.

Job gains were buoyed by the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 70,000 jobs, as well as local government, healthcare, and education.

Both the March and April jobs reports were revised upward, making them collectively 93,000 higher than previously reported.

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