GameStop Preparing Offer to Acquire eBay

According to The Wall Street Journal, GameStop, the long-time video game chain retailer, is preparing to make an offer to buy eBay. 

This is coming as GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has ambitions to turn GameStop into a $100-billion juggernaut. 

On Friday, GameStop had a market value of about $11 billion. The company has been building a stake in eBay shares ahead of its offer. However, eBay’s valuation was about $45 billion on Friday. 

After GameStop’s plans were realized, eBay’s shares after-hours rose by about 10%, whereas GameStop went up about 5%. 

The Journal added that, per people familiar with the situation, an offer to buy the online auction platform could come later this month. 

Additionally, the Journal added that people close to the situation said that if eBay wasn’t interested, Cohen could go directly to shareholders. 

As of now, details for the acquisition are unknown.

Cohen Teases Transformational Deal

In late January, Cohen told CNBC that a “very big” deal to transform the company could be coming soon. 

“It’s gonna be really big. Really big. Very, very, very big,” Cohen said to CNBC. “It’s transformational. Not just for GameStop, but ultimately, within the capital markets … this is something that really has never been done before within the history of the capital markets.”

This is part of Cohen’s plan to scale GameStop to more than just video games and collectibles. 

At the beginning of 2026, Cohen’s compensation package from the company changed, and it was tied to providing additional incentives to boost the company’s market value and profitability. If the criteria are met, he could earn upward of $35 billion. One of the key criteria is the company hitting a $100 billion valuation. 

Financial Position and Background

So far this year, GameStop's stock has risen 30%. As for eBay, the stock is up more than 50%. In February, it acquired Depop and Etsy for $1.2 billion. 

At the end of March, GameStop, per the Journal, had $9 billion in cash, which was up from $4.8 billion last year. 

Cohen joined the GameStop board in 2021 and rose to chairman after he criticized GameStop in late 2020 for moving too slowly toward e-commerce. 

Before coming to GameStop, Cohen co-founded the online pet product store Chewy.