CNBC Doco “Making of the Meme King” Premieres Tuesday June 6

Published

4 months ago

June 5, 2023

After making a name for himself on Wall Street by growing Chewy into an e-commerce behemoth, Ryan Cohen rode the online craze surrounding GameStop and Bed Bath & Beyond to become an icon for a new generation of individual investors intent on turning American finance on its head.

What can we expect from Making of the Meme King

Cohen’s unconventional background and the bold, often controversial moves that earned him nicknames like Papa Cohen and the Meme-Stock King will be explored in depth in a documentary called “Making of the Meme King,” which will premiere on CNBC Documentaries on Tuesday, June 6 at 10PM ET.

In this hour-long documentary, CNBC traces Cohen’s professional development from computer whiz and high school grad to billionaire and catalyst for the GameStop meme stock. Regular Reddit investors, members of the boards and staffs of companies in which Cohen has been involved, research analysts, securities professors, and journalists like Melissa Lee of CNBC all make appearances in the documentary.

CNBC delves into Cohen’s first major business venture, the wildly successful online pet supply retailer Chewy. The transformation of Chewy from a startup to a multibillion dollar business is detailed through interviews with former Chewy employees and Chewy’s first investor, Larry Cheng of Volition Capital.

GameStop

The film “Making of the Meme King” follows Cohen as he embarks on his next major project, GameStop, cementing his reputation as a novel activist investor. With first-hand accounts from Reddit users and GameStop board members and employees, the documentary immerses viewers in the action both online and within the company.

His brief investment in the once-thriving but now-bankrupt brick-and-mortar retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, which he hoped to turn around, is also discussed in the documentary. CNBC investigates the criticisms and questions that arose after Cohen sold his entire stake in the company by speaking with members of social media communities, securities experts, and academics.

The documentary “Making of the Meme King” investigates the mystique surrounding Cohen by analyzing his business endeavors and his most recent targets, which include Nordstrom and Alibaba. It begs the question, though, of where this under-40 investor might look next, and what impact he might have on the market in the process, positive or negative.

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