Economy

GameStop bids for eBay

Ryan Cohen offers $55.5 billion cash-and-stock deal with $20 billion debt backing, bitcoin treasury turns into collateral for old-fashioned leverage

Images

bbc.com
Reuters/Nick Zieminski A GameStop store is seen in the Jackson Heights neighbourhood of Queens, New York City Reuters/Nick Zieminski A GameStop store is seen in the Jackson Heights neighbourhood of Queens, New York City bbc.com
Gamestop Bids $56B for Ebay, Leveraging $519M Bitcoin Treasury Gamestop Bids $56B for Ebay, Leveraging $519M Bitcoin Treasury news.bitcoin.com
EBAY’s stock price surge following the Gamestop bid EBAY’s stock price surge following the Gamestop bid news.bitcoin.com

GameStop has offered $55.5 billion to buy eBay, a deal that would value the 1995-founded marketplace at $125 a share—about $20 above its prior closing price, according to the BBC. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen says he is willing to take the proposal directly to eBay shareholders if the board refuses to engage.

The numbers are the story as much as the strategy. GameStop’s market value is about $12 billion, while eBay is worth roughly four times that, leaving the buyer dependent on leverage, stock issuance, and persuasion. GameStop says it has a commitment letter from TD Securities for around $20 billion in debt financing, and that the rest would be split roughly evenly between cash and GameStop shares, according to Bitcoin.com. The same outlet reports GameStop ended fiscal 2025 with nearly $9 billion in cash and investments and holds 4,710 bitcoins bought for about $500 million, now marked at roughly $519 million—an asset base being used to underpin a bid far larger than the company itself.

Cohen’s pitch is that a merged company could produce $2 billion in cost savings within a year, with most of the cuts coming from eBay’s sales and marketing operation, the BBC reports. That is a familiar acquisition script: buy a mature platform, trim the spend, and promise “efficiency” as a substitute for growth. The harder part is that eBay’s user base has been shrinking—from 175 million in 2018 to 136 million today—while competition from Amazon and other marketplaces has only intensified. Cohen argues GameStop’s roughly 1,600 US stores could become a nationwide network for “live commerce” and operations, turning physical retail into an asset for an online platform. Critics see the same stores as a legacy cost; Forrester analyst Sucharita Kodali told the BBC the offer is not “terribly good” for eBay because it would load the company with GameStop’s debt.

Markets reacted as if the bid mattered even if it never closes. eBay shares jumped more than 13% in after-hours trading after the reports, while GameStop rose around 4%, according to the BBC. The spread suggests investors expect eBay to be the one paid for taking the call, while GameStop is being priced for the risk of financing and execution.

Cohen says he would run the combined company and take no salary or bonus, earning only through performance. The first bill, however, would be the interest on the debt commitment letter.