GRAPEVINE, Texas, May 5, 2026, 17:21 (CDT)
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen is trying to buy eBay for about $55.5 billion, a surprise offer that would move the video-game retailer far beyond its store base and into the center of online resale. The bid is not a signed deal; GameStop called it a non-binding proposal at $125 a share in cash and stock.
It matters now because the market is treating the proposal as serious but far from certain. In late trading Tuesday, eBay was at $105.26, well below the $125 offer price, while GameStop traded at $24.23 and had a market value of about $14.3 billion, underscoring the gap between Cohen’s plan and the size of the target.
eBay is not a weak target waiting for a rescue. Last week it reported first-quarter revenue of $3.1 billion, up 19%, and gross merchandise volume — the value of goods sold through its marketplace — of $22.2 billion, up 18%. CEO Jamie Iannone said the results marked “a strong start to the year” and cited momentum in focus categories, consumer-to-consumer sales and recommerce, or resale. eBay Investor Relations
GameStop’s offer is split evenly between cash and GameStop common stock. The company said the price represents a 46% premium to eBay’s closing price on Feb. 4, when GameStop began building its position, and a 27% premium to eBay’s 30-day volume-weighted average price, a measure of the average price paid over a period after adjusting for trading volume.
Cohen has built a roughly 5% economic stake in eBay, but much of that exposure comes through derivatives rather than plain share ownership. A Schedule 13D filing showed GameStop directly owns 25,000 eBay shares and has exposure to another 22.2 million shares through put/call option pairs, contracts tied to eBay stock that may be cash-settled unless antitrust conditions are met.
The financing question is the hard part. GameStop said it had about $9.4 billion in cash and liquid investments as of Jan. 31 and a “highly-confident” letter from TD Securities for up to $20 billion; that kind of letter signals a bank’s confidence in arranging debt, but it is not the same as all cash being wired at signing. SEC
Cohen’s pitch is simple and blunt: cut costs, use stores, chase Amazon. GameStop said it could remove $2 billion of annualized eBay costs within 12 months of closing and use about 1,600 U.S. GameStop locations for authentication, intake, fulfillment and live commerce.
He has also signaled he may not wait quietly for eBay’s board. Cohen told The Wall Street Journal, according to Reuters, that eBay “could be a legit competitor to Amazon” and that he was prepared to take the offer directly to shareholders if the board was unreceptive. Reuters
The competitive backdrop is not just Amazon. eBay has been trying to strengthen its own resale position, including a pending $1.2 billion acquisition of Depop from Etsy aimed at younger fashion buyers. The company said Depop would keep its name, brand and platform after closing.
Analysts are skeptical. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Poonam Goyal and Sydney Goodman wrote that they saw “low probability of a deal,” adding that any credible offer would require “substantial dilution” and bring “meaningful execution risk.” Los Angeles Times
eBay said Monday it would review the proposal with a focus on the value to shareholders, including the value of the GameStop stock portion and GameStop’s ability to deliver a binding, actionable offer. That wording puts pressure on Cohen to show not just ambition, but committed financing and a structure eBay holders can trust.
The risk is that the bid becomes a market spectacle rather than a transaction. GameStop’s own filing says no binding obligation exists until a definitive merger agreement is signed, and any deal would need shareholder and antitrust approvals. A rejection from eBay, a weak financing package or heavy dilution for GameStop investors could derail the push before it reaches a formal vote.
