GameStop Makes $55.5 Billion Offer to Acquire eBay

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.