alt Hacker NewsCohen is already rich rich, his GameStop compensation doesn’t really matter much. The eBay acquisition could be a strategy to juice his compensation but I think it is much more likely he does believe that he can achieve his stated aims, which will financially benefit him much more in the long term.
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I'm not sure the fact that somebody is already rich rich would make them less likely to perform ethically dubious practices to juice their own compensation. In fact I'd say the opposite is more likely.
Few CEO’s in the US are rewarded for longterm thinking when there are unsustainable quarterly gains to be made. GameStop also has a strange history, especially the last decade, that no one could possibly describe as “cautious” or “planning longterm.”
I also can’t name a single CEO who had the mentality of “I’m rich enough to make personal/financial sacrifices for the good of the company.” That’s simply not how things work. I’m sure an example exists but it would clearly be an exception to the rule.
If there's anything rich people famously hate, it's making more money.
> Cohen is already rich rich, his GameStop compensation doesn’t really matter much
I think this argument is much stronger in the opposite direction: if his motivations were not focused on accumulating wealth, he’d be retired or running some kind of charity once he was that far past the point where he had to work. The fact that he’s not suggests that he derives his self-identity from wealth and the guys who do that are rarely satisfied at mid-tier rich.