It's not so common for a brick-and-mortar retailer with a $4B debt load to chase a tech company that's four times its market cap, but it might be different if you're a meme stock. GameStop (GME) is going after eBay (EBAY), aiming to acquire the latter for about $56B in a cash-and-stock deal. It may also get ugly, with GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen prepared to take his bid directly to shareholders if eBay's board shoots him down.

Backdrop: The videogame retailer has already built a 5% stake in eBay through shares and derivatives, and the announcement is not coming as a total surprise. In late January, Cohen said he aims to pull off a "very, very, very big" acquisition of a larger consumer company that would be transformational for its future. Earlier in March, Best Buy (BBY) shares also jumped amid speculation that the electronics retailer may be a potential takeover target for GameStop.

Where's the money coming from? GameStop had ~$9.4B in cash and liquid investments as of January 31, 2026, and has apparently secured a "highly confident" letter from TD Securities for debt financing of up to $20B. The remaining balance would be paid for in GameStop common stock or additional equity issuances.

The overlap between the two companies might currently center around collectibles, like sports memorabilia and trading cards, but Cohen—who previously founded e-commerce company Chewy (CHWY)—sees a bigger dimension to the potential combination. "eBay should be worth, and will be worth, a lot more money," he told the WSJ in an interview. "I'm thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars. It could be a legit competitor to Amazon (AMZN)."

Recent ratings: Only days ago, SA analyst Gary Alexander reiterated his "Buy" rating on eBay following a slight post-earnings correction. The company just hit a new all-time quarterly GMV record, and its "differentiated growth, reasonable multiples, and strategic pivots position it for continued outperformance despite skepticism about its legacy status." eBay shares up nearly 10% in premarket trading on the latest news. Take the WSB survey.