GameStop makes $55.5 billion unsolicited bid to acquire eBay

GameStop announced Sunday that it has made an unsolicited, non-binding offer to acquire eBay for $125 per share in a cash-and-stock deal, valuing the e-commerce company at about $55.5 billion.

The offer is split evenly between cash and GameStop common stock. The company said the proposal represents a 20% premium to eBay's Friday close of $104.07 and a 46% premium to its closing price on Feb. 4, when GameStop said it began building a stake in eBay.

Shares of eBay rose as much as 13.4% in after-hours trading to about $118. GameStop shares gained about 4% to $27.6. The announcement came as GameStop Chief Executive Ryan Cohen told The Wall Street Journal that he sees a path to make eBay a much bigger competitor to Amazon.com.

"EBay should be worth — and will be worth — a lot more money," Cohen said. "I'm thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars."

GameStop said it has built a roughly 5% stake in eBay and secured a commitment letter from TD Bank for up to $20 billion in debt financing to support the deal. It said the remainder would be funded from its approximately $9.4 billion cash pile.

The proposal remains subject to approval by eBay's board of directors, regulators, and shareholders of both companies. eBay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The article notes that both companies have struggled to adapt to changing consumer preferences. It also says it remains unclear whether eBay's board will view GameStop as a credible acquirer, given that GameStop's own market capitalization stood at roughly $11 billion before the announcement.

According to LSEG data cited in the article, GameStop had a market value of $12 billion as of Friday, while eBay was valued at around $46 billion, raising questions about the feasibility of the offer.

Cohen told the Journal he is prepared to take the bid directly to shareholders in a proxy fight if necessary. If the transaction closes, he is expected to serve as chief executive officer of the combined company, according to GameStop's statement.

In its offer, GameStop said it would cut $2 billion in annual costs within a year, targeting eBay's sales and marketing budget, which totaled $2.4 billion in fiscal 2025 while net active buyer growth remained flat at less than 0.75%.

"More spend is not producing more users on a marketplace with near-universal brand recognition," the statement said.

GameStop projected that the cost reductions alone would increase eBay's earnings per share, measured under standard U.S. accounting rules, to $7.79 from $4.26 in the first year.

The company also said its roughly 1,600 U.S. retail stores could serve as physical infrastructure for eBay's marketplace, supporting authentication, intake, fulfillment, and live commerce capabilities.

Cohen first hinted in January that GameStop planned to acquire a publicly traded consumer company larger than GameStop, telling CNBC at the time that the deal would be "transformational" and "never been done before within the history of the capital markets."