GameStop Makes $55.5 Billion Offer to Acquire eBay

GameStop has submitted a non-binding proposal to get eBay for $125 per stock successful a half-cash, half-stock woody valued astatine $55.5 billion, marking an audacious bid by the video crippled retailer to bargain the e-commerce marketplace.

The gaming retailer plans to money the acquisition with $9.4 cardinal successful currency and liquid investments connected manus arsenic of January 31, supplemented by up to $20 cardinal successful third-party financing from TD Securities. GameStop projects $2 cardinal successful yearly outgo savings wrong 12 months, chiefly by cutting what it views arsenic inefficient spending astatine eBay.

The institution pointed to eBay's $2.4 cardinal successful income and selling expenditures during fiscal 2025, which added lone 1 cardinal nett progressive buyers—growing the idiosyncratic basal from 134 cardinal to 135 million, an summation of little than 0.75%.

GameStop said it would leverage its 1,600 U.S. retail locations to make a nationalist web for authentication, intake, fulfillment, and unrecorded commerce services for eBay's platform.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen laid retired an ambitious imaginativeness for the imaginable acquisition, which values eBay astatine a 46% premium to its February 4 closing price, which is erstwhile GameStop began to amass shares successful the e-commerce giant. The gaming retailer present holds a 5% involvement successful eBay.

"eBay should beryllium worth—and volition beryllium worth—a batch much money," Cohen told The Wall Street Journal. "I'm reasoning astir turning eBay into thing worthy hundreds of billions of dollars."

Cohen said helium was prepared to instrumentality the connection straight to shareholders successful a proxy combat if necessary. eBay issued a press release connected Monday greeting acknowledging the offer, and said it had not held immoderate discussions with GameStop and that  shareholders presently bash not request to bash anything.

The acquisition bid represents a melodramatic translation for GameStop nether Cohen, who antecedently founded favored supplies institution Chewy and sold it to PetSmart for $3.35 cardinal successful 2017. Since taking the helm, Cohen has engineered a turnaround astatine GameStop, swinging the institution from a $381 cardinal nett nonaccomplishment successful fiscal 2021 to $418 cardinal nett income successful fiscal 2025.

During that period, GameStop chopped selling, general, and administrative expenses by $800 million—a 47% reduction. Cohen, who owns a 9% involvement successful GameStop and receives nary wage oregon currency bonuses, is present positioning the $11 cardinal institution to get eBay, valued astatine astir $46 cardinal earlier the acquisition news.

Cohen has a idiosyncratic inducement to implicit the deal, according to reports, arsenic a precocious instituted compensation operation could grant him banal options valued upwards of $35 cardinal if GameStop's marketplace headdress hits a $100 cardinal valuation portion gathering nett benchmarks.

GameStop (GME) shares surged precocious Friday successful after-hours trading, but are down much than 4% to commencement Monday, precocious trading astatine $25.32. Shares are up 24% since the commencement of the year, per Yahoo Finance. eBay shares, meanwhile, are up astir 5.5% truthful acold Monday astatine a caller terms of $109.81, rising 26% since the opening of 2026.

The projected acquisition marks the latest section successful GameStop's improvement from meme banal improvement to superior hopeful firm acquirer.

GameStop besides became a Bitcoin treasury steadfast past year, buying 4,709 BTC past May for implicit $500 million. That sum is presently worthy astir $377 million. GameStop said successful March that it enactment its Bitcoin into a covered telephone strategy with Coinbase, aiming to make output connected its holdings.