TBPN: GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen Live – October 20, 2025
Hosts: John Coogan & Jordi Hays
Special Guest: Ryan Cohen (CEO of GameStop)
Other recurring voices: Tyler, Zach
Note: This summary focuses on the Ryan Cohen interview (starting at 52:10) and key show highlights, skipping ads and technical interruptions.
Episode Overview
This episode of TBPN, live from the “Ultradome,” delivers a dense mix of tech and finance news, AI commentary, and a highly anticipated live interview with Ryan Cohen, CEO of GameStop. The show weaves through ongoing debates in AI (notably the “AI bubble”), retail evolution, and the future of commerce and technology leadership, before and after Cohen joins. The episode is marked by real-time reactions to big news (AWS outage, Louvre jewel heist) and candid, sometimes contrarian, takes on AI, markets, and culture.
Key Segments & Timestamps
- [00:00] - [12:00] – Opening, AWS outage, AI/Tesla/OpenAI/Karpathy recap
- [12:00] - [50:00] – AI Bubble debate, tech public markets, AI commerce, China/US/Nvidia/Oracle, geopolitics
- [52:10] - [106:05] – Ryan Cohen (GameStop CEO) Live Interview
- [106:06] - End – D.C. politics, AI regulation, media discussion, closing thoughts
Show Highlights — Before Ryan Cohen
The State of AI: Bubble or Not?
- Andrej Karpathy’s recent interview made waves ("AI is slop," AGI 10 years out).
- Quote - Host 2 (03:00): “If you’re looking for something safe, you gotta rotate into food, water, shelter and guns...AI is fake.”
- Hosts argue "10-years-to-AGI" is actually bullish, not bearish.
- Quote - Host 2 (08:29): “That’s extremely bullish...Bearish takes are bullish.”
- Debates over AI's true economic impact: GDP stays at 2%, incremental innovation vs “takeoff.”
- Referenced Karpathy, Sam Altman, Ray Kurzweil’s timelines for AGI.
- Recurrent theme: technologists cite “10 years away” for major breakthroughs as a risk hedge.
Big Tech, Commerce & Cloud
- Oracle’s multibillion-dollar OpenAI bet: Is it investing rationally or off-script?
- “Oracle has...$300 billion in infrastructure over the next five years...hoping OpenAI revenue will pay.”
- AI commerce ramps, but real user behavior hasn’t shifted (OpenAI can surface products, but most still Google before buying).
- Quote - Host 2 (11:41): “If 700 million of those 800 million are still in the...workflow of when I find a product on ChatGPT, I Google it and then I buy it there, well, that's not going to monetize very well.”
- OpenAI’s commerce partners are Walmart/Etsy, not Amazon/eBay—does this signal leverage or desperation?
- “Amazon and eBay want to say, hey, I think we still have leverage here, but it can flip if OpenAI becomes a true aggregator.”
AI Lab Wars & Wall Street Disconnect
- “AI Doom” vs “Slop” vs Overinvestment: Market sentiment vs. fundamentals.
- Quote - Ryan Cohen sneak peek (25:51): “Doesn’t mean it’s a bubble.”
- Reactions to AI doomerism vs. bullishness, reference to market bubbles past and present (Tiger Global, Nvidia, public/private disconnect).
Global Geopolitics
- Nvidia, China, and rare earth standoff: Capex arms race, $3–4 trillion in upcoming AI infrastructure, global debt.
- Jensen Huang: “We are 100% out of China...policy makers...that’s a bad idea.”
Main Event: Ryan Cohen (GameStop CEO) – In-depth Interview
Starts at [52:10]
Ryan Cohen’s GameStop Story: From Investor to CEO
- Entry Story: Began as passive investor (“filed 13D in August 2020, board Jan 2021”), became active after seeing “perverse incentives” in old leadership.
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 53:00): “What you see is that when people don’t have their own money on the line, they don’t give a shit...getting that out of the way so we could actually focus on the business.”
- Major themes: stripping out bloat, cost discipline (“from 1400 people in corporate in 2021 to 400 now”; “SG&A down by 50%”).
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 56:19): “We’re more productive today than we were in 2021.”
Media Narratives & Q2 Success
- Media’s misunderstanding: focus on “results, not the peanut gallery.”
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 55:32): “In general, the news should just focus on the results instead of comments from the peanut gap.”
- Q2 highlight: “Running the business like an owner...leaning into trading cards...getting rid of the bloat.”
Capital Allocation Philosophy
- Reluctance to deploy cash “just because”—must be “risk-adjusted,” not “VC style.”
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 59:11): “It needs to be a situation where our downside is limited and the upside is really high...it’s risk adjusted.”
Business Model Evolution: Lessons from Chewy
- Tried to port the Chewy playbook to GameStop (broad catalog, ‘everything store’ approach), failed—physical vs. ecommerce are “very, very different.”
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 61:07): “I had all these preconceived biases where I was going to copy the Chewy Playbook at Gamestop...and most of that product didn’t sell.”
- Success found in collectibles—now roughly a third of sales.
- Trading cards/collectibles are hot; digital product is more scalable but supply constrained.
The Future of Retail, AI & Digital
- Digital gaming transition limits GameStop upside in digital (risk-light approach).
- “Our ability to play in the digital world is limited...no moonshots...focused on real returns.”
- Trading cards (physical/digital) viewed as a “store of value” akin to crypto—very strong, but cautious on long-term sustainability.
On Innovation, AI, and Tech Leadership
- Hiring: execution > interviews. “You only know once you put someone in the position.”
- AI increases productivity but is ultimately “scary” and could become a threat to humanity.
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 84:50): “At some point the computers are going after the humans...I think the sci-fi movies, when it comes to AI, I feel it, I feel like there’s going to be a big problem.”
- Timeline? “Faster than I would have thought.”
- Skeptical of VR/wearables (“Meta Quest is a joke...who’s going to walk around with these retarded glasses?”), but will sell anything with high margins and real demand.
- Aligns with cautious, capital-efficient approach: “I don’t buy into emerging technologies [easily].”
Broad Societal Reflections
- Wealth inequality & labor market displacement from AI feels different from previous tech revolutions.
- “Is it better for humanity in aggregate? I don’t know.”
- On UBI: “People need a purpose.”
- Social media & youth: “One of the worst things to happen to humanity.”
- “There’s so much divisiveness in America...we figure out the reasons why we’re going to be divided.”
CEO and Corporate Governance Philosophy
- Titles don’t matter: “Call me the janitor for all I care. Their incentives should be aligned with common shareholders.”
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 76:42): “I don’t even know what a CEO means...if it ends up not being successful, they lose a lot of money.”
- On meme-stock hype: GameStop’s approach is not about meme-driven moonshots; focus is on “decades and centuries.”
- Power packs (digital/physical boosters): “Very interesting, we can’t get enough inventory. Digital is more scalable.”
- M&A: Cautious, not competing with VC-funded buyers. Values cash flow and price discipline.
Government & Regulation
- Prefers reduced reporting/costs (open to biannual reporting if it cuts audit expenses).
- On AI governance: “Governments and long-tenure leaders” must steward new tech wisely. U.S. cycle incentives are too short.
- Cultural takes: References Chinese policy restricting video games and social media as “not crazy”—sometimes boundaries are better.
Personal, Politics, and Public Persona
- “Have you thought about politics?”
- “I was born in Canada...too honest. I couldn’t play the game.”
- Quote (Ryan Cohen, 104:17): “Politicians, they’re like diapers. They start to stink very quickly.”
- Closing notes: Leadership is about unity, not division.
Sample Notable Quotes from the Interview
- On corporate incentives:
- “When people don’t have their own money on the line, they don’t give a shit.” (53:16)
- On Chewy-to-Gamestop lessons:
- “Physical retail is very, very, very different than E-commerce. And I spent a lot of money to figure that out.” (61:34)
- On trading cards’ rise:
- “We’ve gone from like 10% of our sales to over... a third, probably for the full year is going to come from collectibles. And that’s remarkable.” (63:03)
- On VR, tech hype:
- “Meta Quest... it’s a joke. All of the virtual reality stuff doesn’t feel like... who’s going to walk around with these retarded glasses on their head?” (65:31)
- On AI’s risk:
- “At some point the computers are going after the humans and I don’t think it’s that far away... it scares me.” (85:00)
- On titles:
- “Call me the janitor for all I care. At the end of the day, their incentives should be aligned with common shareholders.” (76:42)
- On leadership:
- “True leadership is not about dividing people. It’s figuring out how do we bring people together over the long term to benefit humanity.” (100:33)
- On politics:
- “Politicians, they’re like diapers. They start to stink very quickly. I couldn’t play the... so you want to tell people what they want to hear? Yeah, and I’m not playing that game.” (104:17)
- On Roaring Kitty:
- “Ask him... I’ll have a conversation with him if he’s focused on decades and centuries, not on making [quick money].” (105:26)
Broader Show Highlights — After the Cohen Interview
- D.C. politics breakdown with Zach:
- Government shutdowns, budget dysfunction, AI regulatory chaos, nuclear bottlenecks.
- AI regulation: Federal vs state preemption, “1000 live players” theory of D.C. consensus-building.
- Media meta-debate: New media, “Neo Legacy media,” blurred lines between legacy print and digital.
- Vegas, Ozempic, and cultural shifts (lighter notes) and a running theme on slop vs. value in both markets and culture.
Conclusion
This episode encapsulates the volatility, opportunity, and anxiety in tech, retail, and markets in late 2025. Ryan Cohen’s interview stands out for its candor and focus on discipline, as well as his skepticism of hype cycles—from DTC e-commerce to AI and collectibles. The hosts synthesize heavy news with humor, context, and biting contrarian takes, making the episode an engaging briefing for anyone interested in the intersection of business, tech, and culture.