GameStop’s Ryan Cohen Wants to Be More Than a Meme-Stock King

Ryan Cohen is the face of an investing revolution that captivated amateur traders, punished Wall Street and favored memes over fundamentals. Many of his other bets belong to a more conservative playbook.

The 37-year-old billionaire, who made his fortune with online pet retailer Chewy Inc., gained fame during a period of market frenzy last year when he used a stake in struggling videogame retailer GameStop Inc. to push out the executive team and become chairman. His enigmatic tweets—including a picture of himself with chopsticks up his nose—helped his investment gain viral popularity as a so-called meme stock and motivated his followers to seek revenge against professional traders who had bet against the company.