ewsba.se
GameStop put forward a non-binding proposal Sunday to purchase all of eBay's outstanding shares at $125 apiece, with the consideration divided equally between cash and GameStop common stock, placing eBay's undiluted equity value at roughly $55.5 billion.
At $104.07, eBay closed Friday at a price that GameStop's bid tops by 20%. The offer also clears eBay's Feb. 4 close by 46%, that date being when GameStop first began accumulating its position, the company said. Through a combination of derivatives and direct stock holdings, GameStop has assembled a position representing approximately 5% of eBay's equity.
Financing for the transaction would come from two sources: a roughly $9.4 billion cash reserve GameStop held as of January 31, 2026, and up to $20 billion in debt, backed by a commitment letter already in hand from TD Securities. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen told The Wall Street Journal he is prepared to pursue a proxy fight and take the offer directly to eBay shareholders if the board declines to engage.
The proposal letter stated that Cohen intends to lead the merged entity as chief executive, forgoing any salary or cash bonuses in favor of compensation tied entirely to how the combined company performs.
Within a year of any deal closing, GameStop envisions stripping $2 billion in yearly costs from eBay's operations, with sales and marketing, product development, and general and administrative line items all in scope. Absent any other changes, GameStop calculated that expense reductions of that magnitude would push eBay's diluted earnings per share from $4.26 to $7.79.
GameStop's roughly 1,600 domestic stores were also cited in the proposal as a ready-made infrastructure asset that eBay could leverage for item authentication, seller intake, order fulfillment, and live commerce. Cohen told The Wall Street Journal that eBay "could be a legit competitor to Amazon" and that he is "thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars."
Following initial reports of the coming bid on Friday, after-hours trading sent eBay shares up roughly 13% to around $118, a level that still trails GameStop's $125 bid — a spread that, according to CNBC, reflects doubts in the market about whether the transaction will ultimately be completed. Analyst reaction has included pushback on the deal's strategic logic, with Bernstein telling clients in a note that eBay's turnaround already appeared to be working and questioning the need for outside intervention.
The deal requires approval from eBay's board, regulators, and shareholders of both companies. GameStop said it will file a Schedule 13D and an HSR notification the following day.
Since taking the reins at GameStop in early 2021, Cohen has overseen a financial turnaround that erased a $381 million net loss recorded that year and produced $418 million in net income by fiscal 2025, with SG&A costs cut by roughly $800 million along the way. Cohen's entrepreneurial track record includes co-founding Chewy, the e-commerce pet products company that PetSmart acquired for $3.35 billion in 2017.