Unsolicited offer
Amid falling revenue and store closures, GameStop wants to buy the much larger eBay.
A GameStop store at Aventura Mall in Miami, Florida, in September 2025. The store has since been closed. Credit: Getty Images | Jeff Greenberg
GameStop yesterday made an unsolicited offer to buy eBay for $55.5 billion. GameStop claims that eBay has underperformed and spends too much on sales and marketing and argues that it would become a stronger company if it cuts costs and is combined with GameStop’s physical retail locations.
“GameStop’s ~1,600 US locations give eBay a national network for authentication, intake, fulfillment, and live commerce,” GameStop Chairman and CEO Ryan Cohen wrote in a letter to eBay Chairman Paul Pressler.
eBay’s market capitalization is over four times larger than GameStop’s. GameStop faces skepticism about the viability of its offer but says it will obtain debt financing and pay with a mix of cash and stock.
GameStop’s proposal envisions a system in which GameStop staff inspect and verify items to be listed on eBay. “GameStop staff already inspect and grade hardware and trading cards every day. Sellers walk in, items are verified on the spot, and listings carry a trust badge,” the proposal said.
The stores will “serve as drop-off and shipping nodes,” providing “a national fulfillment network without incremental eBay capital expenditure,” GameStop said. The stores, according to GameStop’s plan, will “double as broadcasting studios. eBay supplies the inventory and the buyer base; GameStop supplies the physical footprint to compete in the live-commerce category.” This would apparently help eBay sellers use livestreaming to promote their products.
Cohen intends to become CEO of the post-merger company if eBay accepts the deal and completes it. A GameStop press release said that Cohen “owns ~9% of GameStop and receives no salary, no cash bonuses, and no golden parachute. He will be compensated solely based on the performance of the combined company.”
Doubts about GameStop’s ability to finance deal
GameStop is still chugging along five years after its meme-stock mania, though it reportedly closed about 470 stores in the US at the beginning of 2026. It also closed 590 US-based stores in 2024. As of this writing, GameStop’s stock price had fallen about 2 percent today, while eBay’s had risen about 5 percent.
Unsurprisingly, GameStop faces skepticism about its ability to finance a deal to buy a much larger company. GameStop has a market capitalization of about $11 billion, while eBay is worth about $48 billion. GameStop’s offer for eBay is $125 per share, half in cash and half in GameStop stock.
Cohen said GameStop had about $9.4 billion in cash and liquid investments as of January 31 and will fund the cash portion of the offer with “cash and liquid investments on GameStop’s balance sheet and third-party equity and debt financing.” Cohen’s letter said GameStop has “a highly-confident letter from TD Securities for up to $20 billion,” indicating that TD is confident it can arrange financing but that the debt portion of GameStop’s offer is not yet finalized.
Cohen took questions about the financing on CNBC’s Squawk Box today, but co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin said the deal math doesn’t make sense. Sorkin noted that GameStop’s market capitalization, cash, investments, and potential financing from TD add up to $40 billion, leaving a gap of $16 billion to complete the $56 billion deal.
“We’ll see what happens,” Cohen responded.
Sorkin followed up by asking where the rest of the money comes from. Cohen answered, “it’s half cash, half stock.”
Sorkin tried again, saying, “that math doesn’t get you to the price that you’re offering.” Cohen responded, “I don’t understand your question. We’re offering half cash, half stock, and we have the ability to issue stock in order to get the deal done.”
CNBC hosts also asked Cohen for evidence that he can grow a consumer business that can rival Amazon, given that GameStop revenue has declined sharply the past few years. GameStop’s net sales were $3.6 billion in fiscal year 2025, compared to $6 billion in 2021.
“Didn’t you guys call for GameStop’s demise multiple times? Like, it should have been bankrupt by now?” Cohen said. “Look at our financial performance. Is it better than you guys anticipated? Because you guys said it was going to be doing really, really poorly, and it’s actually doing okay.”
“Fundamentally different” business models
Describing his ambitions, Cohen said that “eBay has the second largest commerce franchise and there’s a big opportunity to do something much larger and pull costs out of the system as well as accelerate revenue growth and leveraging our physical infrastructure, our focus on collectibles. It could be a much larger business, but bringing in an entrepreneurial mindset is what I plan on doing.”
At another point, Cohen said that GameStop is in a “very difficult business” and “should have been bankrupt multiple times over, and it’s doing okay, it’s making a few bucks. eBay is in a very, very strong position but it could be in a much stronger position.”
GameStop’s press release said its $125-per-share offer amounts to a 46 percent premium over eBay’s closing price on February 4, the day GameStop started accumulating a stake in the company. GameStop’s current stake in eBay is 5 percent.
eBay confirmed that it received the offer in a press release today and said that “eBay had no discussions with or outreach from GameStop prior to receiving the proposal.” eBay said its board “will review this 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.”
Morgan Stanley analysts issued a research note saying that eBay and GameStop have “fundamentally different” business models. “eBay is a 3P [third-party] eCommerce marketplace that doesn’t take inventory risk while GameStop is primarily an in-store wholesaler,” stated the research note, which was provided to Ars. “Given those dynamics, we struggle to outline meaningful potential cross-sell synergies as most of GameStop’s inventory is already available on eBay while the long-tail inventory base of eBay isn’t well suited for in-store retail.”
GameStop wants to slash eBay marketing budget
Morgan Stanley similarly doubted the potential cost savings. “On the expense side, we also think the potential opportunities would likely be minimal as physical and digital business require different cost bases, as do 3P marketplaces vs. 1P wholesalers. To add another challenge, GameStop has already undergone a series of large cost cuts,” the research note said.
Morgan Stanley analysts expressed skepticism about “how a deal would be financed given the material valuation gap.” If completed, they said it could end up as the largest leveraged buyout ever, “surpassing the recently announced $55 billion Electronic Arts transaction.”
GameStop said that eBay spent $2.4 billion on sales and marketing in fiscal 2025 but added only 1 million net active buyers, increasing the total from 134 million to 135 million. GameStop said it would cut $1.2 billion from eBay’s sales and marketing budget, arguing that the current spending “is not producing more users on a marketplace with near-universal brand recognition.”
GameStop proposed cutting another $300 million from eBay’s product development expenses and $500 million from general and administrative functions. The combined company will consolidate its finance, HR, real estate, legal, IT, and professional services after the merger to save money, GameStop said.
GameStop touted its own financial performance under Cohen, saying that it “moved from a $381 million net loss in fiscal 2021 to $418 million of net income in fiscal 2025.” eBay meanwhile said in its press release today that its “board and leadership team are executing a focused strategy to drive sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value.”
eBay last week reported Q1 2026 revenue of $3.1 billion, up 19 percent year over year. eBay’s GAAP net income was $512 million, up 2 percent.
GameStop, which is on a different fiscal schedule, reported net sales of $1.1 billion in Q4 2026. That was down from $1.28 billion in the prior year’s fourth quarter. GameStop’s Q4 net income also fell year over year, from $131.3 million to $127.9 million.
Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.
