Ryan Cohen Wants eBay — And He’s Not Taking No for an Answer.
Nobody saw this coming. On Sunday, 3 May, GameStop — the video game retailer that the internet turned into a meme stock and Wall Street wrote off as roadkill — dropped a $55.5 billion (€50.9 billion) unsolicited bid to acquire eBay. This is the beginning of the highly controversial GameStop eBay acquisition bid. The offer values eBay at $125.00 (€114.60) per share, with a 50% cash and 50% GameStop (NYSE: GME) common stock split.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen did not call ahead. He did not schedule a meeting. He quietly built a 5% economic stake in eBay over several months, filed the paperwork, and launched a public proposal to buy a company nearly four times his own firm’s market value. The audacity is staggering. The ambition is clear. Whether the math holds up is a completely different question.
What’s Happening & Why It Matters
GameStop Targets a Business Four Times Its Own Size
GameStop’s market valuation sat at roughly $12 billion (€11 billion) before the bid dropped. eBay’s current valuation stands at approximately $46–$49 billion (€42–€45 billion), making an audacious bid for a business nearly four times the size of GameStop. The proposal is non-binding, meaning GameStop has not yet committed to a fully financed, legally binding deal. However, Cohen structured it aggressively enough to signal that this is more than a press stunt.
The offer represents a 46% premium to eBay’s unaffected closing price on 4 February 2026 — the day GameStop started building its position. It carries a 27% premium to eBay’s 30-day volume-weighted average price and a 36% premium to the 90-day average. Those premiums are real money on the table. eBay shareholders are listening, even if the board isn’t sure what to make of it yet.
The Financing Gap Nobody Can Ignore
Here is where the story gets complicated. GameStop has lined up a $20 billion (€18.3 billion) financing letter from TD Bank, and holds approximately $9.4 billion (€8.6 billion) in cash and liquid investments on its balance sheet. Add those two figures together, and you reach roughly $29.4 billion (€26.9 billion) — still well short of the $55.5 billion (€50.9 billion) implied deal size.
CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed Cohen directly on this during a tense appearance on Squawk Box, noting that even combining GameStop’s market cap, its balance sheet cash, and the TD Securities letter still leaves the deal roughly $16 billion (€14.7 billion) short. Cohen’s answer did not satisfy. He pointed viewers to GameStop’s website for details, confirmed the 50/50 cash-and-stock structure, and said GameStop retains the ability to issue additional shares to bridge the gap. That answer falls somewhere between vague and evasive, depending on who was listening.
Notably, Michael Burry — famed investor and GameStop shareholder — exited his position after the eBay bid surfaced, stating the level of debt required was incompatible with his vision for the company. Burry had hoped Cohen would reshape GameStop into a modern-day Berkshire Hathaway through disciplined deal-making. Burry walking away is not a minor footnote. He is one of the most respected contrarian investors alive, and his exit signals deep scepticism about the deal’s structural soundness.
Ryan Cohen’s Case for the Deal
Cohen’s argument for the deal is sweeping. He told The Wall Street Journal that eBay is deeply underperforming and that the right leadership can unlock massive value. “eBay should be — and will be worth — a lot of money,” Cohen said. “I’m thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars. It could be a legit competitor to Amazon.”
GameStop’s formal proposal to eBay’s board identifies several structural weaknesses in eBay’s current operation. Despite spending $2.4 billion (€2.2 billion) on sales and marketing in fiscal 2025, eBay added only one million net active buyers — growing its base from 134 million to 135 million users. That is an enormous marketing spend producing almost no net growth. Cohen argues that GameStop could bring operational discipline, cost reduction, and physical retail infrastructure to fix what eBay’s management has failed to address.
The proposal promises $2 billion (€1.83 billion) in annualised cost reductions within 12 months of closing. It highlights GameStop’s network of 1,600 physical stores across the United States as a differentiator — offering eBay a national infrastructure for authentication, product intake, fulfilment, and live commerce that no purely digital competitor can match. The SEC filings project a year-one post-close increase in diluted GAAP earnings per share from $4.26 to $7.79, with a pro forma operating margin of 20.5%. Those are ambitious numbers. They are not impossible numbers.
eBay’s Board Responds — Carefully
eBay confirmed receipt of the unsolicited proposal and said its board would review it carefully. “The Board will review the proposal with a focus on the value to be delivered to eBay shareholders, including the value of the GameStop stock consideration and the ability of GameStop to deliver a binding, actionable proposal,” eBay stated.
That language is deliberate. The board is not dismissing the offer. It is also not embracing it. The key phrase — “ability to deliver a binding, actionable proposal” — signals exactly where eBay’s scepticism lives. Until GameStop can demonstrate a fully financed, legally binding structure, the board has every reason to wait.
The Hostile Takeover Card Is Already on the Table
Cohen did not come to negotiate quietly. He came to win. Cohen told The Wall Street Journal he is prepared to take the offer directly to shareholders in a proxy fight if eBay’s board rejects the proposal. Should the deal close, Cohen is expected to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the combined company.
A hostile takeover attempt would put enormous pressure on eBay’s institutional shareholders. The 46% premium to eBay’s pre-bid price is a compelling number for any investor with a fiduciary obligation to maximise returns. If eBay’s board blocks a deal that shareholders want, it opens the board to significant legal and governance scrutiny. Cohen knows this. The 5% stake he quietly accumulated makes him one of eBay’s largest shareholders — giving him a seat at the table whether the board wants him there or not.
Markets React With Scepticism
The market’s immediate reaction told a clear story. eBay stock closed 5.05% higher at $109.33 (€100.15) on Monday, while GameStop plunged 10.14% to close at $23.84 (€21.84). eBay investors are pricing in a premium, but not the full $125 (€114.60) offer price. That gap — between $109 and $125 — reflects the market’s doubt that the deal closes at the proposed terms.
Prediction market platform Kalshi gave GameStop just a 26% chance of completing the acquisition in 2026. Polymarket was even more bearish, assigning only a 15% probability to a successful close. Traders are not betting on this happening. They are betting on the drama, and the drama is delivering.
What GameStop Gets — If It Wins
The strategic logic, taken on its own terms, is not absurd. eBay is one of the world’s largest e-commerce marketplaces with 135 million active buyers globally. It generates billions in gross merchandise volume annually. However, it has struggled for years to grow its user base, modernise its experience, and compete against Amazon, Shopify, and a wave of category-specific resale platforms.
GameStop’s 1,600-store physical network genuinely offers something eBay does not have — trusted physical touchpoints for authentication and fulfilment of high-value secondhand goods. In a world where resale is booming, and trust is the key friction point, that physical footprint could be a real differentiator. Cohen’s GameStop proved the sceptics wrong once before. His argument that they are doing so again is not purely rhetorical.
TF Summary: What’s Next
GameStop’s $55.5 billion (€50.9 billion) bid for eBay is one of the boldest — and most structurally questionable — M&A moves in recent memory. Ryan Cohen has the ambition, the strategic narrative, and a 5% stake that gives him shareholder standing. What he does not yet have is a fully financed, binding proposal that closes the roughly $16 billion (€14.7 billion) gap between what he has assembled and the deal’s actual cost. eBay’s board will take its time. The market is sceptical. And Michael Burry’s exit is a warning signal that even Cohen’s most sophisticated backers are not convinced.
The next move belongs to eBay’s board. If it formally rejects the proposal, Cohen has already signalled he will escalate to a proxy fight — taking his case directly to shareholders who are looking at a 46% premium and thinking hard. The pressure does not disappear when the board says no. For eBay shareholders, institutional investors, and anyone watching the future of e-commerce, the story is far from over. The question is no longer whether Cohen is serious. The question is whether he can make the numbers work.
Reporting by The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg, and CNN Business contributed to this report.