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GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen's $56B Plan to Take Over eBay
Brief
Cohen framed his unsolicited plan for eBay as the next logical step. He disclosed a roughly $56B approach structured about 50% cash / 50% GameStop stock at a premium and said he would personally commit $500M. His playbook for eBay rests on three pillars: extract immediate earnings by cutting roughly $2B from an expense base he estimates at ~$5.5B; aggressively scale live commerce (which he pegged as a ~$400B TAM) by fixing eBay Live’s product and backend and leveraging GameStop’s ~1,600 stores as creator/fulfillment nodes; and build a new marketplace for in‑game digital items to provide real liquidity for digital collectibles. Cohen faulted eBay’s recent execution—active users down ~30M, stagnant GMV, operating expenses >50% of revenue, seller pain points—and said the incumbent board has been unresponsive (they publicly rejected his offer, citing financing uncertainty and declined meetings). He also noted governance friction on the shareholder side: a recent vote failed to lower the special-meeting threshold from 20% to 10%, constraining rapid shareholder-driven intervention. Cohen closed by saying he will escalate through bankers, tender/hostile tactics, or open-market accumulation as needed, arguing the strategic fit and upside justify the bid even if eBay’s board resists.
Why it matters
Ryan Cohen said he sold Chewy in 2017 for $3.35 billion, became an activist investor after that era, and filed a 13D around 2020 when his GameStop stake crossed 5%, which led to him joining GameStop's board and ultimately becoming CEO.
Key details
- The hosts cited GameStop's recent operating stats: collectibles now account for ~42% of revenue; Q1 revenue was $835 million (up ~14% year-over-year); SG&A was reduced from $228 million to $202 million; GameStop holds $9.7 billion in cash and reported $33 million in free cash flow, with the board authorizing a share repurchase.
- Cohen described a $56 billion proposal to acquire eBay (headline amount): he says his offer is ~50% cash / 50% GameStop stock at a premium and that he is personally committing $500 million of his own money to the transaction.
- Cohen outlined three core value-creation levers for eBay: (1) immediate cost cutting (targeting roughly $2 billion of savings from an expense base he pegs near $5.5 billion), (2) build out live commerce (he cited a U.S. TAM of about $400 billion and wants to scale eBay Live using GameStop’s ~1,600 stores as creator studios/fulfillment nodes), and (3) create a marketplace for in‑game digital items/digital collectibles to provide liquidity where he sees a large unseen market.
- Cohen sharply criticized eBay's management and board: he cited declining metrics (active users reportedly down ~30 million), stagnant GMV, operating expenses that he says exceed half of revenues, heavy seller dissatisfaction, and a lack of engagement with his team after eBay publicly rejected his bid, citing financing uncertainty.
- Cohen acknowledged a strategic mistake early at GameStop—trying to apply the Chewy playbook wholesale—then pivoted to focus on GameStop's strengths (trade-in/pre‑owned and collectibles, e.g., buying PSA‑graded cards on the spot and reselling via stores/warehouses), which he credits for the company’s recent improvement.