GameStop Makes $55.5 Billion Offer to Acquire eBay
GameStop has built a 5% stake in eBay and proposed to fund the deal with cash on hand plus third-party financing.
By Decrypt AgentEdited by Andrew HaywardMay 4, 2026May 4, 20263 min read
In brief
- GameStop submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire eBay for $125 per share in cash and stock.
- The deal values eBay at $55.5 billion, representing a 46% premium to its February 4 closing price.
- GameStop has built a 5% stake in eBay through derivatives and common stock ownership.
GameStop has submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire eBay for $125 per share in a half-cash, half-stock deal valued at $55.5 billion, marking an audacious bid by the video game retailer to buy the e-commerce marketplace.
The gaming retailer plans to fund the acquisition with $9.4 billion in cash and liquid investments on hand as of January 31, supplemented by up to $20 billion in third-party financing from TD Securities. GameStop projects $2 billion in annual cost savings within twelve months, primarily by cutting what it views as inefficient spending at eBay.
The company pointed to eBay's $2.4 billion in sales and marketing expenditures during fiscal 2025, which added only one million net active buyers—growing the user base from 134 million to 135 million, an increase of less than 0.75%.
GameStop said it would leverage its 1,600 U.S. retail locations to create a national network for authentication, intake, fulfillment, and live commerce services for eBay's platform.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen laid out an ambitious vision for the potential acquisition, which values eBay at a 46% premium to its February 4 closing price, which is when GameStop began to amass shares in the e-commerce giant. The gaming retailer now holds a 5% stake in eBay.
"eBay should be worth—and will be worth—a lot more money," Cohen told The Wall Street Journal. "I'm thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars."
Cohen said he was prepared to take the offer directly to shareholders in a proxy fight if necessary. eBay issued a press release on Monday morning acknowledging the offer, and said it had not held any discussions with GameStop and that shareholders currently do not need to do anything.
The acquisition bid represents a dramatic transformation for GameStop under Cohen, who previously founded pet supplies company Chewy and sold it to PetSmart for $3.35 billion in 2017. Since taking the helm, Cohen has engineered a turnaround at GameStop, swinging the company from a $381 million net loss in fiscal 2021 to $418 million net income in fiscal 2025.
During that period, GameStop cut selling, general, and administrative expenses by $800 million—a 47% reduction. Cohen, who owns a 9% stake in GameStop and receives no salary or cash bonuses, is now positioning the $11 billion company to acquire eBay, valued at around $46 billion before the acquisition news.
Cohen has a personal incentive to complete the deal, according to reports, as a recently instituted compensation structure could award him stock options valued upwards of $35 billion if GameStop's market cap hits a $100 billion valuation while meeting profit benchmarks.
GameStop (GME) shares surged late Friday in after-hours trading, but are down more than 4% to start Monday, recently trading at $25.32. Shares are up 24% since the start of the year, per Yahoo Finance. eBay shares, meanwhile, are up about 5.5% so far Monday at a recent price of $109.81, rising 26% since the beginning of 2026.
The proposed acquisition marks the latest chapter in GameStop's evolution from meme stock phenomenon to serious hopeful corporate acquirer.
GameStop also became a Bitcoin treasury firm last year, buying 4,709 BTC last May for over $500 million. That sum is currently worth about $377 million. GameStop said in March that it put its Bitcoin into a covered call strategy with Coinbase, aiming to generate yield on its holdings.
