Ryan Cohen

Ryan Cohen is a Canadian entrepreneur and activist investor. He founded e-commerce company Chewy in 2011, and was the company's chief executive office (CEO) until 2018. Cohen currently serves as the chairman and CEO of GameStop, Inc.(GME)

Career :

At the age of 15, Cohen started his first business collecting fees off referrals to various e-commerce sites. In 2011, at the age of 25, Cohen founded Chewy under its original name of MrChewy. Cohen says his inspiration for picking the pet category came from his experience shopping for his poodle Tylee. He cites his father Ted, who ran a glassware importing business, as a mentor. To grow Chewy, Cohen used Amazon’s guidelines for supply chain, logistics and the convenience of shopping online but added a focus on customer service, including hand-written holiday cards, pet portraits, and flowers for deceased pets. In need of capital, Cohen says he originally approached over 100 venture capital firms and was rejected by all of them. In 2013, Cohen secured the company's first outside investment from Volition Capital for $15 million. By 2016, he had raised capital from investors including BlackRock and T. Rowe Price New Horizons Fund. That year the company had $900 million in sales and had become the number 1 online pet retailer. By 2017, he raised $350 million and was preparing for an IPO. 

In April 2017, PetSmart purchased Chewy for $3.35 billion in the largest e-commerce acquisition of all time. Chewy’s value was credited in part to the company’s relationship with its customers, from handwritten thank you and holiday cards to committing nearly one sixth of its employees to 24-hour customer service. That year Fortune named Cohen one of its "40 under 40" and Vox named him to its Recode 100 list. Cohen remained CEO following the acquisition and operated the business largely as an independent unit of PetSmart. He grew the business to 3.5 billion in revenue in 2018, including 66% of sales coming from customers signed up for automatic recurring shipments, prior to stepping down as CEO to pursue personal goals and spend time with his family. In June 2019, Chewy went public at a valuation of $8.7 billion. 

In January 2021, Cohen joined the GameStop board along with two Chewy executives. Cohen was also appointed chairman to lead a new committee in charge of a company-wide transformation. Cohen's appointment triggered a stock rally; within two weeks the stock had increased by 1,500% resulting from a short squeeze. Since then, Cohen has been instrumental in a number of changes at GameStop, including the departure of multiple executives and ten members of the board of directors, and the hiring of multiple Amazon and Chewy executives in leadership positions. He became chairman following the annual shareholder meeting.

On September 28, 2023, Cohen took over as Chief Executive Officer of GameStop. He is receiving no salary for his roles as CEO and chairman.