If GameStop CEO’s awkward CNBC interview was an away game, his Fox Business appearance the following day felt like a home game.
Ryan Cohen seemed happier to be on TV during Tuesday’s edition of Fox Business’ “Making Money with Charles Payne,” where the CEO again discussed GameStop’s unsolicited bid to acquire eBay. It was his first televised interview since his bizarre segment on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” during which his repetitive answers and stated confusion at their questions elicited exhalations and chuckles from the hosts.
This time around, Cohen was all smiles. He said it was “good to see you by the way, Charles” and laughed several times throughout his appearance. (The CNBC hosts got a “good morning” and a brief smile that faded into a dead-pan expression, which remained for much of the interview.)
It may have helped that “Making Money” is filmed in the afternoon, unlike “Squawk Box,” which is early morning. It also may have helped that Payne was borderline fawning, saying his own opinion was that Cohen was the “key to this,” comparing it to the New York Giants trading for “a better quarterback” and that he found traditional Wall Street’s skepticism of the proposed deal “frustrating.”
“They paid themselves over the last few years, gobs, millions and millions of dollars,” Payne said in reference to eBay’s board. “They never buy back their own stock. They’ve done nothing really innovative at all with respect to that. And here, I think, really, for me, that my opinion is you’re the linchpin, you’re the key to this.”
Cohen made a greater attempt to explain the proposal to buy eBay, which is worth several times what GameStop is today. When the CNBC hosts asked how he would fund the deal, he repeatedly told them to look at GameStop’s website. In comparison, for Fox Business, he talked at length about the possibility of “dilution that is accretive to earnings per share” and outlined a vision for what he could make more efficient in eBay’s business.
There were still some similarities between the two TV appearances. Cohen spent much of the first portion of the interview looking down while answering — which he did throughout the CNBC spot — but later spoke directly to Payne and generally seemed higher energy.
He also took another jab at those he said predicted GameStop’s failure. On CNBC, it was directly to the anchors as “you guys”; on Fox, it was aimed at “experts” who have “never run a business.”
There were also non-answers. These were given with more smiles than CNBC’s, though.
At one point, Payne asked for his thoughts about a Semafor story that said Cohen “squandered what goodwill he had” with the awkward interview.
There was a long silence, followed by Cohen’s “um.” Then, the CEO laughed. “Can’t take it too seriously,” he said. “It’s OK.”
Earlier in the interview, Cohen repeated a line that he used on CNBC. This time, with more energy in his voice.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Payne then segued to Cohen’s view that “American capitalism is rotting from the head down.”
“Let’s talk about that, because I tend to agree with you,” the host said.
As the interview wrapped, Payne told Cohen he was wishing him luck: “I’m still a shareholder, and I still have faith.”
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