WSJ : The GameStop CEO Has an Audacious Plan to Clinch His $35 Billion Payday

The GameStop CEO Has an Audacious Plan to Clinch His $35 Billion Payday
Billionaire Ryan Cohen says he’s eyeing a major acquisition—and famed investor Michael Burry is cheering him on

  • GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen plans a major acquisition, likely in consumer or retail, to transform the company into a $100 billion-plus entity.
  • Cohen’s compensation package is tied to GameStop’s market value reaching $100 billion and a measure of Ebitda reaching $10 billion.
  • Michael Burry, a GameStop shareholder, supports Cohen’s strategy, suggesting a $10 billion-plus acquisition of a quality business.

GameStop GME -3.51%decrease; red down pointing triangle shares have dropped around 80% since the retailer’s reign as king of meme stocks in 2021.

Its chairman and chief executive has an ambitious plan to turn that slide around—and has Michael Burry of “The Big Short” fame cheering him on.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that he is aiming to turn the $11 billion company into a $100 billion-plus juggernaut. This larger company would do much more than just sell videogames and collectibles.

To do this, he is eyeing a major acquisition of a publicly traded company, likely in the consumer or retail industry, where he has spent most of his career. He has his sights set on a handful of companies that he declined to identify and plans to approach potential targets soon.

Any deal will be “big,” the 40-year-old billionaire said. “It’s ultimately either going to be genius or totally, totally foolish.”

Cohen co-founded online pet-products retailer Chewy in 2011. He served as its CEO through 2018 after leading the company to an over $3 billion sale to PetSmart. He pivoted to activist investing for a time, agitating for change at companies including Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond, where he faced allegations—that he denied—of misleading investors.

He said a few years ago he was modeling his strategy after those of Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn, finding undervalued stocks like the former and pressing for change like the latter.

Earlier this month, GameStop’s board of directors adjusted Cohen’s compensation package to give him extra incentive to boost the company’s market value and profitability. He stands to make as much as $35 billion in stock if certain criteria are met.

Part of the award starts vesting if GameStop’s market value reaches $20 billion and a measure of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reaches $2 billion. To get the full award, GameStop’s market value must reach $100 billion and the Ebitda measure must reach $10 billion.

More executives have been following the lead of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose multibillion-dollar pay package from 2018 laid the groundwork for other moonshot pay deals. In November, Tesla shareholders approved a fresh record-setting pay deal for Musk that promises as much as $1 trillion in additional stock if certain milestones are reached.

“This structure ensures that Mr. Cohen’s incentives are directly aligned with creating long-term value for GameStop’s stockholders,” GameStop said in a filing detailing the changes.

Meanwhile, Cohen has been buying up more GameStop shares, including as recently as this month. He now has a stake of over 9% and remains the biggest individual shareholder in the business.

The recent changes caught the attention of Burry, the doctor-turned-hedge-fund-manager whose bets against subprime mortgage bonds were chronicled in the Michael Lewis book. Burry closed his fund last year to launch a paid Substack newsletter.

Burry wrote earlier this week that the videogame retailer should run the Berkshire Hathaway playbook and use its giant cash holdings to make transformative acquisitions.

Cohen “has a crappy business, and he is milking it best he can while taking advantage of the meme stock phenomenon to raise cash and wait for an opportunity to make a big buy of a real growing cash cow business,” Burry wrote.

Burry, a GameStop shareholder, said in the newsletter he bought more stock recently and sees upside in the company should Cohen spend $10 billion or more to acquire a quality business, such as an insurer with plenty of customer premiums to invest. GameStop’s substantial net operating losses, which allow it to offset future taxable income, could also make it an ideal acquirer for many targets, Burry wrote.

Cohen told the Journal that he hasn’t spoken to Burry since at least 2019. “He’s one of the few investors I respect,” he said. “He has a track record of making prescient early calls.”

(Burry’s other recent writings have warned of a potential AI bubble.)

Cohen gained a cult following after he built a big GameStop stake and in late 2020 criticized the company for moving too slowly toward e-commerce. He joined GameStop’s board in January 2021, when the business had a market value of a little over $1 billion. He rose to become chairman later that year and vowed to transform the struggling retailer into an e-commerce giant.

The stock took off. So-called meme-stock investors poured into GameStop in droves and fueled a massive rally, many with a desire to squeeze out short-selling hedge funds that had bet against the business.

GameStop shares reached a high of $120.75 five years ago this week. They closed at $22.81 Thursday.

Cohen bristles at the term meme stock, telling the Journal it is “a label people use when they don’t want to do the work” on a stock. “You either create value over time or you don’t,” he said.

Cohen said GameStop is finally in a good position to make bolder moves, after recent efforts to sell more collectibles and shut underperforming stores.

GameStop has around $9 billion in cash and liquid securities on its balance sheet that could help fund a deal.

“There are a lot of diamonds in the rough…that have sleepy management teams,” Cohen said about the retail industry. “I didn’t fix GameStop to stop there.”

WSJ : Panama’s High Court Rules Against Hong Kong Firm Running Canal Ports

Panama’s High Court Rules Against Hong Kong Firm Running Canal Ports
Supreme Court finds that license terms granted to CK Hutchison breach constitution, dealing a blow to China’s influence in region

  • Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that the terms for CK Hutchison to operate two Panama Canal ports are unconstitutional, aiding U.S. security goals.
  • The ruling is a diplomatic setback for China, following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, a key ally in China’s Latin American strategy.
  • Panama aims to hire a new company to manage the ports after Hutchison’s license is revoked, with a potential bidding process for new terms.

The Supreme Court of Panama ruled that terms granted to a Hong Kong company to operate two ports at either end of the Panama Canal breach the country’s constitution, handing President Trump a victory for his security ambitions in the Western Hemisphere and denting China’s influence in the region.

Panama’s high court said in a brief statement that the terms under which CK Hutchison runs the ports of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side are unconstitutional, setting the stage for the company’s departure from the port facilities.

For Panama’s Supreme Court justices, the political pressure was significant, as the port operations put Panama on the center stage of the rivalry in the region between the U.S. and China.

The ruling comes a year after Trump set his sights on Panama. He said Chinese infrastructure that has been built up around the canal in the past three decades was a security threat to the U.S.

“China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China,” Trump said in his inaugural address last year.

Hutchison can’t appeal a Supreme Court ruling, but it can request clarifications that could delay the termination of its operating license.


Once the license is revoked, Panama aims to ensure the continuity of port operations by hiring a company to manage the terminals until it opens a bidding process with new license terms, possibly separating the two ports, according to senior government officials familiar with the legal process.

The high-court decision is a diplomatic defeat for China that comes weeks after the U.S. military’s capture in Caracas of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who was a crucial ally in China’s efforts to secure a strategic foothold in Latin America.

“It’s a diplomatic setback for China, but not an economic setback,” said John Feeley, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Panama from 2015 to 2018. Chinese shippers, which rank among the top users of the canal, will still be able to use the waterway as the ruling won’t have an effect on canal operations, he said.

Private lawyers and Panama’s comptroller filed lawsuits against Hutchison with the Supreme Court, alleging the contracts violated the interests of the government and taxpayers. A government audit showed as much as $1.3 billion in lost government revenue since Hutchison’s arrival in the late 1990s.

Before the ruling, a person close to Hutchison said the company considered the case to be politically driven. The company had agreed to divest itself of operations of the two Panama container terminals and dozens of other ports worldwide to a group led by BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co. for almost $23 billion. China’s government opposed the sale, demanding that Chinese state-run shipping company Cosco have a majority stake and veto power in the firm managing the global port assets.

The person close to the company had said Hutchison was prepared to take the case to international arbitration to protect its investment if justices ruled against the company.

“Panama has a good batting average when it comes to arbitration,” Felipe Chapman, Panama’s finance minister, said in an interview before the ruling was disclosed. “It’s part of doing business and crucial for rule of law.”

Beijing is forming a Latin America task force that will study how to protect its interests in the region, and will likely look for ways to retaliate, said a person familiar with the government’s plans.

China has invested close to $300 billion in infrastructure projects across Latin America, including subway lines, bridges, hydroelectric dams, power plants and stadiums. One flagship project is the Peruvian deepwater megaport of Chancay that Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated in November 2024. The $3.5 billion project was developed by Cosco.

While Chinese investment has displaced that of the U.S. in most of Central and South America, the U.S. remains Panama’s top investor and trading partner. The tiny Central American nation is vulnerable to Trump’s pressure because it uses the U.S. dollar as its national currency, and has no central bank or armed forces. In 1989, U.S. troops invaded the country to overthrow then-dictator Manuel Noriega.

Two months before the U.S. handed control of the canal to Panama’s government in late 1999, Hutchison won bidding for the two ports, beating U.S. rivals such as Bechtel. Reagan-era defense secretary Caspar Weinberger said at the time that the “huge spread” between Hutchison’s winning bid and the next nearest one showed that its interest in Panama wasn’t purely commercial. He suggested that China could gain an “enormously important intelligence platform.” The Pentagon, which supervised the canal’s operation before the handover, dismissed such concerns. Hutchison executives called such fears “totally ridiculous.”

Panama’s pro-American president, José Raúl Mulino, who has a master’s degree in maritime law from Tulane University, had grumbled about the terms of the Hutchison deal after taking office in 2024.

Mulino, who has worked with the U.S. on migration and security issues, rejected Trump’s threats to take over the canal as an affront to Panama’s sovereignty. But he withdrew from Xi’s signature “Belt and Road” initiative last year.

Trump’s complaints accelerated the simmering dispute between Hutchison and Panama’s government, officials said, primarily because the Hong Kong company had extracted better license terms from previous administrations even as Panama became a global transshipment hub for container cargo. About 5% of world trade goes through the canal now.

In previous administrations, the Chinese gained a foothold in Panama, said Carlos Ruiz-Hernández, who served as deputy foreign minister during the first months of the Mulino administration. The Chinese didn’t operate the canal or pose a security risk, but there was a symbolic perception.

“The Americans had the notion that the Chinese were closer to the canal than they were,” Ruiz-Hernández said.

WSJ : Panama’s High Court Rules Against Hong Kong Firm Running Canal Ports

Panama’s High Court Rules Against Hong Kong Firm Running Canal Ports
Supreme Court finds that license terms granted to CK Hutchison breach constitution, dealing a blow to China’s influence in region

Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that the terms for CK Hutchison to operate two Panama Canal ports are unconstitutional, aiding U.S. security goals.
The ruling is a diplomatic setback for China, following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, a key ally in China’s Latin American strategy.
Panama aims to hire a new company to manage the ports after Hutchison’s license is revoked, with a potential bidding process for new terms.

The Supreme Court of Panama ruled that terms granted to a Hong Kong company to operate two ports at either end of the Panama Canal breach the country’s constitution, handing President Trump a victory for his security ambitions in the Western Hemisphere and denting China’s influence in the region.

Panama’s high court said in a brief statement that the terms under which CK Hutchison runs the ports of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side are unconstitutional, setting the stage for the company’s departure from the port facilities.

For Panama’s Supreme Court justices, the political pressure was significant, as the port operations put Panama on the center stage of the rivalry in the region between the U.S. and China.

The ruling comes a year after Trump set his sights on Panama. He said Chinese infrastructure that has been built up around the canal in the past three decades was a security threat to the U.S.

“China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China,” Trump said in his inaugural address last year.

Hutchison can’t appeal a Supreme Court ruling, but it can request clarifications that could delay the termination of its operating license.


Once the license is revoked, Panama aims to ensure the continuity of port operations by hiring a company to manage the terminals until it opens a bidding process with new license terms, possibly separating the two ports, according to senior government officials familiar with the legal process.

The high-court decision is a diplomatic defeat for China that comes weeks after the U.S. military’s capture in Caracas of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who was a crucial ally in China’s efforts to secure a strategic foothold in Latin America.

“It’s a diplomatic setback for China, but not an economic setback,” said John Feeley, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Panama from 2015 to 2018. Chinese shippers, which rank among the top users of the canal, will still be able to use the waterway as the ruling won’t have an effect on canal operations, he said.

Private lawyers and Panama’s comptroller filed lawsuits against Hutchison with the Supreme Court, alleging the contracts violated the interests of the government and taxpayers. A government audit showed as much as $1.3 billion in lost government revenue since Hutchison’s arrival in the late 1990s.

Before the ruling, a person close to Hutchison said the company considered the case to be politically driven. The company had agreed to divest itself of operations of the two Panama container terminals and dozens of other ports worldwide to a group led by BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co. for almost $23 billion. China’s government opposed the sale, demanding that Chinese state-run shipping company Cosco have a majority stake and veto power in the firm managing the global port assets.

The person close to the company had said Hutchison was prepared to take the case to international arbitration to protect its investment if justices ruled against the company.

“Panama has a good batting average when it comes to arbitration,” Felipe Chapman, Panama’s finance minister, said in an interview before the ruling was disclosed. “It’s part of doing business and crucial for rule of law.”

Beijing is forming a Latin America task force that will study how to protect its interests in the region, and will likely look for ways to retaliate, said a person familiar with the government’s plans.

China has invested close to $300 billion in infrastructure projects across Latin America, including subway lines, bridges, hydroelectric dams, power plants and stadiums. One flagship project is the Peruvian deepwater megaport of Chancay that Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated in November 2024. The $3.5 billion project was developed by Cosco.

While Chinese investment has displaced that of the U.S. in most of Central and South America, the U.S. remains Panama’s top investor and trading partner. The tiny Central American nation is vulnerable to Trump’s pressure because it uses the U.S. dollar as its national currency, and has no central bank or armed forces. In 1989, U.S. troops invaded the country to overthrow then-dictator Manuel Noriega.

Two months before the U.S. handed control of the canal to Panama’s government in late 1999, Hutchison won bidding for the two ports, beating U.S. rivals such as Bechtel. Reagan-era defense secretary Caspar Weinberger said at the time that the “huge spread” between Hutchison’s winning bid and the next nearest one showed that its interest in Panama wasn’t purely commercial. He suggested that China could gain an “enormously important intelligence platform.” The Pentagon, which supervised the canal’s operation before the handover, dismissed such concerns. Hutchison executives called such fears “totally ridiculous.”

Panama’s pro-American president, José Raúl Mulino, who has a master’s degree in maritime law from Tulane University, had grumbled about the terms of the Hutchison deal after taking office in 2024.

Mulino, who has worked with the U.S. on migration and security issues, rejected Trump’s threats to take over the canal as an affront to Panama’s sovereignty. But he withdrew from Xi’s signature “Belt and Road” initiative last year.

Trump’s complaints accelerated the simmering dispute between Hutchison and Panama’s government, officials said, primarily because the Hong Kong company had extracted better license terms from previous administrations even as Panama became a global transshipment hub for container cargo. About 5% of world trade goes through the canal now.

In previous administrations, the Chinese gained a foothold in Panama, said Carlos Ruiz-Hernández, who served as deputy foreign minister during the first months of the Mulino administration. The Chinese didn’t operate the canal or pose a security risk, but there was a symbolic perception.

“The Americans had the notion that the Chinese were closer to the canal than they were,” Ruiz-Hernández said.

WSJ : Trump Expected to Pick Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair

Trump Expected to Pick Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair
President says he plans to announce his choice to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair on Friday

WASHINGTON—President Trump’s advisers have been told that he is expected to nominate Kevin Warsh, a central bank insider-turned-critic, as Federal Reserve chair, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump’s selection of Warsh would bring to an end a monthslong internal deliberation among the president and his top advisers over who should lead the central bank.

The White House and Warsh didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Fed chair nomination is arguably the most important personnel decision Trump faces for the remainder of his term, because the central bank serves as a first responder in financial crises and sets interest rates that affect every corner of the economy and markets.

Trump told reporters that he planned to unveil his Fed chair pick on Friday morning. “A lot of people think that this is somebody that could’ve been there a few years ago,” said Trump, who considered Warsh for the job eight years ago but instead selected the current chair, Jerome Powell. Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May.

Warsh, 55, has long positioned himself to return to lead an institution he once served—and has spent years publicly criticizing it. A former Fed governor who played behind-the-scenes roles during Washington’s rescue of Wall Street in the 2008-09 financial crisis, Warsh lost out on the top job to Powell in 2017.

Trump quickly soured on his choice of Powell and previously expressed regret over not picking Warsh. “Kevin, I could have used you a little bit here. Why weren’t you more forceful when you wanted that job?” Trump said at a 2020 ceremony, acknowledging Warsh in the audience. “I would have been very happy with you.”

Trump has bashed the Fed throughout both of his terms for not cutting rates faster. The central bank held its benchmark short-term rate steady at its meeting this week, pausing after three consecutive cuts last year and drawing a rebuke from Trump earlier Thursday.

This time, Warsh has aligned himself more closely with Trump’s views—embracing the president’s tariff policies after years as a free-trade advocate and calling last year for the Fed to cut interest rates faster.

In an address at the International Monetary Fund in April, Warsh said the Fed’s “current wounds are largely self-inflicted,” and in television interviews, he has called for “regime change,” an unspecified overhaul of the framework that guides how the central bank sets interest rates.

Earlier Thursday, Trump said he would announce his pick next week, but by evening—following a meeting with Warsh at the White House—he had moved up the timeline, saying he planned to reveal his choice on Friday.

Trump’s pick would have to be confirmed by the Senate, a process that has been complicated by a Justice Department probe of the central bank. Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), who sits on the Banking Committee that handles Fed nominations, has said he would block any of Trump’s Fed nominees until the investigation is resolved.

The probe is focused on Powell’s testimony to Congress about building renovations. Powell has called it a pretext for Trump to get the lower interest rates he wants. The investigation has amplified concerns about the administration’s efforts to pressure an institution that hasn’t answered to the White House for decades.

Warsh had been considered a leading candidate for the job along with Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council. Warsh was widely seen as the front-runner after Trump earlier this month said he preferred to keep Hassett in his current post.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent managed the search and had presented Trump with two additional finalists: Rick Rieder, a senior executive at BlackRock, and Christopher Waller, a current Fed governor whom Trump appointed to the board in 2020.

>>> US After Hours Summary: SNDK +14.2%, DECK +12.7%, AAPL +1.1% higher on earni

After Hours Summary: SNDK +14.2%, DECK +12.7%, AAPL +1.1% higher on earnings; TSLA +3% on Bloomberg report that SpaceX is considering a merger with Tesla as well as an alternative combination with xAI; USAR +3.8% on insider buy

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: SNDK +14.2% (also extends JV with Kioxia; also WDC intends to monetize its 7.5 mln SNDK shares before the one year anniversary of the separation), DECK +12.7%, RHI +7.2%, AJG +3.7%, FHI +2.6%, AX +2.4%, RMD +2.1%, HIG +1.8%, WDC +1.2% (also intends to monetize its 7.5 mln SNDK shares before the one year anniversary of the separation), AAPL +1.1%, ORC +0.8%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: PZG +39.9% (receives federal approval for the Grassy Mountain Gold Project), USAR +3.8% (Director bought 100000 shares worth $2.14 mln), TSLA +3% (SpaceX is considering a potential merger with Tesla as well as an alternative combination with xAI, according to Bloomberg), HOOD +2.6% (US could give HOOD a key role in managing "Trump Accounts" for children, according to Bloomberg), VERI +2.3% (major expansion of Veritone Data Refinery suppliers), CMRC +1.9% (expands partnership with Stripe), DCI +1.8% (names new CEO), FIS +1.5% (increases dividend), VOYG +1.2% (breaks ground on major expansion of Voyager American Defense Complex), GCO +0.8% (CFO to step down), PHIN +0.5% (increases dividend; also authorizes $150 mln increase to share repurchase program), ABAT +0.5% (names new CFO), SENS +0.4% (CE Mark approval for the Eversense 365 CGM system), NAVN +0.4% (transitioning Reed & Mackay customers to the Navan platform), OR +0.3% (acquires additional 1.0% NSR royalty), MSFT +0.1% (Perplexity secures AI cloud agreement with Microsoft Azure, according to Bloomberg; also Pentagon at odds with Anthropic on military AI applications, according to Reuters)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: PFSI -24.5%, SNDR -16.7%, BZH -12.1%, OLN -10.1%, APPF -9.6%, KLAC -8.3%, CVCO -7%, MXL -6.9%, EMN -4.5%, MTX -3.4%, DLB -3.2%, DXC -2.9%, TFSL -2.5%, LPLA -2.2%, SKYW -2%, V -1.1%, SXI -1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: LXRX -4.9% (stock offering; also also provides updated disclosures to potential investors), KRMD -1.5% (receives FDA 510(k) clearance for delivery of RYSTIGGO), VOR -1.1% (stock offering by selling shareholders), PII -1% (increases dividend), HZO -1% (files for $300 mln mixed securities shelf offering), SEZL -0.9% (CFO to retire; names new CFO), SCHW -0.7% (increases dividend; also announces executive transitions), META -0.7% (U.S. investigating claims that WhatsApp chats are not private, according to Bloomberg), RTX -0.3% (awarded a $1.02 bln modification to Army contract), MDLZ -0.1% (names new COO/CFO) MRNA -0.1% (strategic collaboration with Recordati)

FT : Germany signals joint fighter project with France may not deliver jets

Germany signals joint fighter project with France may not deliver jets
Beleaguered programme may continue in scaled-back form, after Airbus CEO said his company had given up on fighter jet


German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has suggested that a beleaguered project to build a fighter jet with France could continue in scaled-back form, after Airbus said the partners should part ways.

Merz said that there would “definitely” be some kind of joint systems built by Paris and Berlin as part of their €100bn flagship air-defence project known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

But he also acknowledged that the main element of the programme — a jointly made combat aircraft — could be scrapped. France’s Dassault and the German-based defence arm of aerospace giant Airbus have been locked in a long-running argument over the project.

“We are trying to resolve this. In any case, there will be joint systems.’’ Merz said. ‘‘We are currently engaged in intensive dialogue with France on the extent to which we will also continue to develop and build joint aircraft, and I expect that we will reach a joint decision on this within the next few weeks.”

The German leader’s comments came after Michael Schoellhorn, chief executive of Airbus Defence and Space, said that his company had given up on manufacturing a joint fighter aircraft.

“We have come to the conclusion that . . . Dassault just has a completely different set-up in mind that is not fitting to a co-operative European project, and that’s why it’s better that we part ways on the fighter,” he told Politico.

The FT reported in November that France and Germany were discussing dropping the joint jet and focusing on development of a command and control system, dubbed the “combat cloud”.  

The two nations had agreed on a deadline of the end of 2025 to resolve the dispute. But one person close to the matter said the decision was postponed until the end of February, after French President Emmanuel Macron and Merz met in Paris on January 6. 

Dassault and Airbus have clashed over the aircraft’s design and construction. Though initially due to be led by the French maker of the Rafale fighter jet, with Airbus as a partner, the pair have disagreed on what that arrangement should look like. Dassault has said it wants to be able to call the shots with suppliers and on key decisions, demands Airbus has baulked at. 

“Neither side wants to let go of anything,” a former French government official said this month.

A person inside Merz’s Christian Democratic Party, said: “The project is deadlocked but no one wants to be the first to say it is dead.”

President Macron, who along with the then chancellor Angela Merkel was the initial architect of FCAS, publicly rebuked the industrial groups in November, prompting renewed talks between the companies and French and German ministries in December. 

Dassault put forward a new proposal to the governments of how it envisioned its leadership, two people familiar with the matter said. It included explicitly calling Airbus a subcontractor, one of the people said, and requested that the French military procurement agency oversee the works, rather than a more international committee. 

Paris still hopes that the project can be saved, though French officials acknowledge the challenges.

A person involved in the talks said: “FCAS has always been a political project, so the question is, is there enough political will to continue? In France there is, in Germany there isn’t.”

Airbus said in a statement on Thursday that the company was “committed to playing a leading role in developing an FCAS system for Europe and is now awaiting guidance from the partner nations on the way forward”. Dassault declined to comment. The Élysée didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.