GameStop CEO Cohen reaffirms $55.5B eBay bid after board rejection

GameStop Chief Executive Ryan Cohen said the company remains committed to acquiring eBay for $55.5 billion, or $125 a share, after the online marketplace's board rejected the unsolicited bid in May.

"We're coming for eBay one way or another," Cohen said in a Bloomberg TV interview Thursday, declining to say whether he would raise the offer.

The proposal values eBay at a 46% premium to its Feb. 4 closing price, the date GameStop began building its position. GameStop has since raised its economic stake to 7.8%, according to regulatory filings. The offer is split evenly between cash and GameStop common stock, with roughly $9.4 billion in cash on hand and a $20 billion financing commitment from TD Securities.

The outcome hinges on whether Cohen can convince eBay shareholders to override a board that has rejected the bid, a fight that would require a proxy contest or hostile tender offer — a costly and uncertain path for a company valued at roughly one-quarter of its target.

The Offer and the Rejection

GameStop submitted a non-binding proposal on May 3 to acquire all of eBay's outstanding shares. The $125-per-share offer represented a 27% premium to eBay's 30-day volume-weighted average price and a 36% premium to its 90-day average. eBay's board formally rejected the proposal on May 12 after a review with financial and legal advisors, citing financing uncertainty, operational risks, and GameStop's governance.

Cohen has framed the acquisition as a chance to apply his cost-cutting playbook to eBay, which he says spends inefficiently. He pointed to eBay's $2.4 billion in sales and marketing spending in fiscal 2025, which added only about 1 million net active buyers — growing the base from 134 million to 135 million, an increase of less than 0.75%. GameStop projects it could achieve $2 billion in annualized cost reductions within 12 months of closing, including roughly $1.2 billion from sales and marketing alone.

The Path Forward

Cohen envisions combining GameStop's roughly 1,600 U.S. retail stores with eBay's infrastructure to create what he described as a $1 trillion business. He proposed using GameStop locations as authentication centers for trading cards and other collectibles, which now account for more than half of GameStop's revenue. Software sales make up less than 12% of the business, Cohen said, downplaying concerns about Sony's decision to stop printing physical game discs by 2028.

"Once these businesses are together, we've got 1,600 nodes," Cohen said, adding these locations would be "within a 15-minute drive of maybe 80% of the population."

GameStop shareholders in June approved a large increase in authorized share count to facilitate the potential purchase. The company also projected adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2026 to surpass $600 million, up from $345.4 million in fiscal 2025.

Several structural obstacles remain. eBay's board has shown no indication of reconsidering, and any hostile approach would require regulatory antitrust clearance and approval from shareholders of both companies. GameStop has filed the necessary Hart-Scott-Rodino notification alongside its Schedule 13D disclosure.

Cohen said he has received interest from many investors since announcing the bid and that "the pro forma company is going to be investment grade." He declined to provide additional details on pricing or timing, saying, "I'm not going to negotiate against myself."

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.