Ryan Cohen
Ryan Cohen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Ryan Cohen 1985 or 1986 (age 38–39)[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, Activist Investor |
| Known for | Co-Founder and CEO (2011 – 2018), Chewy |
Ryan Cohen (born 1985 or 1986) is the co-founder and former CEO of e-commerce company Chewy, which was acquired by PetSmart in 2017 for $3.35 billion,[2] and an investor.[3][4] Cohen will become the chairman of GameStop following the June 9th shareholder meeting.[5]
Career
In 2011, at the age of 25, Cohen founded Chewy under its original name of MrChewy.[6] Cohen says his inspiration for picking the pet category came from his experience shopping for his poodle Tylee.[7] He cites his father Ted, who ran a glassware importing business, as a mentor.[8][9] In need of capital, Cohen says he originally approached over 100 venture capital firms and was rejected by all of them.[10][11] In 2013, Cohen secured the company's first outside investment from Volition Capital for $15 million.[12] By 2016, he had raised capital from investors including BlackRock and T. Rowe Price New Horizons Fund.[13] That year the company had $900 million in sales and had become the number 1 online pet retailer.[14] By 2017, he raised $350 million and was preparing for an IPO.[15]
In April 2017, PetSmart purchased Chewy for $3.35 billion in the largest e-commerce acquisition of all time.[15] That year Fortune named Cohen one of its "40 under 40"[16] and Vox named him to its Recode 100 list.[17] Cohen remained CEO following the acquisition and operated the business largely as an independent unit of PetSmart.[14] He grew the business to 3.5 billion in revenue in 2018[15] prior to stepping down as CEO to pursue personal goals and spend time with his family.[2] In June 2019, Chewy went public at a valuation of $8.7 billion.[18]
Investments
Following the sale of Chewy, Cohen made a significant investment in Apple, making him the largest individual shareholder of the tech company with 1.55 million shares (6.2 million split-adjusted shares as of August 31, 2020).[3][19]
In September 2020, Cohen disclosed a near 10% stake in GameStop, an American video-game retailer,[20] making him the company's biggest individual investor. This was later increased to 12.9% on December 17, 2020 through an amended 13D filing with SEC.[21] According to these filings, Cohen’s firm, RC Ventures, has expressed willingness to get more involved with the company in order “to produce the best results for all shareholders."[22] Since then Cohen has been instrumental in a number of changes at GameStop, including the departure of multiple executives and eight members of the board of directors. Cohen joined the board in January 2021 along with two former Chewy executives. Cohen was also appointed Chairman to lead a new committee in charge of a company-wide transformation.[23] The company has hired multiple Amazon and Chewy executives in leadership positions.[24]
References
- ^ "He’s 34 years old and owns $550 million worth of Apple — so why is he hoping the stock gets hammered?" MarketWatch, June 27, 2020.
- ^ a b Nancy Dahlberg, "Co-founder Ryan Cohen stepping down as CEO of Chewy, a homegrown success story," Miami Herald, March 15, 2018.
- ^ a b Chris Matthews, "How the coronavirus stock-market rout dealt Chewy’s founder a $150 million blow to his Apple holdings, for now," MarketWatch, March 23, 2020.
- ^ Trentmann, Nina; Maurer, Mark (24 February 2021). "GameStop CFO Was Forced Out as Activist Investor Pushes New Strategy". WSJ. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Thomas, Lauren (2021-04-08). "GameStop shares jump after company says it plans to name Ryan Cohen chairman". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ^ Debora Lima, "Chewy goes toe-to-toe with mainstay brands," South Florida Business Journal, March 3, 2017.
- ^ Verdon (14 June 2019). "Don't Bet Against Pets: Retail Lessons From The Chewy IPO". Forbes. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ Joan Verdon, "Ryan Cohen Started A Company That Took On Amazon, And Sold It For $3 Billion. Now He’s Thinking About What’s Next," Forbes, January 26, 2020.
- ^ Ryan Cohen, "The Secret Weapon Behind Chewy Founder Ryan Cohen's Success," Entrepreneur, May 4, 2020.
- ^ Susan Adams, "The Man Who Found Gold In Dog Food," Forbes, January 24, 2017.
- ^ Nancy Dahlberg, "What it’s like to grow and sell a multibillion-dollar company, at age 32," Miami Herald, March 26, 2018.
- ^ Ryan Cohen, "The Founder of Chewy.com on Finding the Financing to Achieve Scale," Harvard Business Review, January–February 2020
- ^ Olivia Zaleski, "Your Dog Deserves an Oil Portrait With Her Gluten-Free Kibble," Bloomberg News, November 22, 2016.
- ^ a b Maria Armental, "PetSmart’s Latest Bite at E-Commerce: Chewy.com," The Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2017.
- ^ a b c Miriam Gottfried, "How PetSmart Swallowed Chewy—and Proved the Doubters Wrong," The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2019.
- ^ "35 - Ryan Cohen," Fortune, retrieved July 23, 2019
- ^ Del Rey, Jason (6 December 2017). "Ryan Cohen kept Chewy under the radar until it sold for more than $3 billion". Vox. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ Gonzalez, Guadalupe (14 June 2019). "Chewy's Co-Founder and Former CEO Explains How the Startup Went From Zero to a $8.7 Billion Public Company". Inc. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ Devon Pendleton, "A Tech Founder Cashed Out and Bet It All on Apple and Wells Fargo," Bloomberg News, June 5, 2020.
- ^ "Top GameStop Investor Wants to Turn Retailer Into Amazon Rival". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "AMENDMENT NO. 4 TO THE SCHEDULE 13D". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "SEC Filing | GameStop Corp". news.gamestop.com. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- ^ Ben Gilbert, "Wall Street darling Ryan Cohen is clearing house at GameStop, bringing in e-commerce experts to transform it into the Amazon of gaming," Business Insider, March 25, 2021.
- ^ "GameStop shakeup rolls on, hires Amazon executive as chief growth officer," Reuters, March 30, 2021.