Will GameStop Ever Actually Buy eBay? Inside Ryan Cohen's $56 Billion Takeover Bid and What Comes Next

GameStop's pursuit of eBay has stretched into its third month, and the video game retailer shows no sign of walking away, even as the e-commerce giant continues to reject its advances. The saga, one of the more unusual corporate takeover attempts in recent memory, has left investors and analysts split on whether a deal will ever materialize.

How the bid began

GameStop Chief Executive Ryan Cohen submitted a non-binding proposal to eBay's board on May 3, offering $125 per share in a cash-and-stock deal that valued the online marketplace at roughly $55.5 billion. The offer represented a 46% premium to eBay's closing price on February 4, the day GameStop began quietly building its stake in the company. GameStop disclosed it had accumulated a 5% economic interest in eBay through a combination of derivatives and direct stock ownership ahead of making the offer public.

The proposed structure called for the deal to be split evenly between cash and GameStop common stock, with eBay shareholders given the ability to choose which form of consideration they wanted to receive. Cohen pointed to GameStop's roughly $9.4 billion in cash reserves and said he had secured a commitment letter from TD Securities for up to $20 billion in additional debt financing.

eBay says no

eBay's board rejected the proposal on May 12, calling it "neither credible nor attractive" in a letter signed by board chairman Paul Pressler. The company cited its ongoing turnaround under CEO Jamie Iannone, which has focused on higher-margin categories such as trading cards, collectibles and pre-owned luxury goods, as evidence that eBay was better positioned as a standalone business. eBay noted that its shares were up sharply for the year and said it had "delivered meaningful results" through its current strategy.

The size mismatch between the two companies drew immediate skepticism from Wall Street. At the time of the offer, GameStop's market value stood at roughly $10 billion to $12 billion, while eBay's was closer to $46 billion to $48 billion — meaning GameStop was proposing to buy a company roughly four times its own size using a mix of borrowed money and its own stock.

GameStop keeps buying, keeps pushing

Rather than retreat after the rejection, GameStop has steadily increased its position in eBay. A regulatory filing showed the company's stake had grown to nearly 10% by mid-July, after GameStop purchased millions of additional shares in June and converted options covering 39 million more shares into common stock. In a filing this month, GameStop reiterated its commitment to pursuing the deal, even as it declined to say how it planned to move the transaction forward.

Cohen has also made changes at GameStop that observers have linked to the eBay push. In June, the company's board withdrew a proposed executive compensation package for Cohen that could have paid him as much as $35 billion in stock if he hit certain performance targets, with the company citing his focus on the eBay effort. The withdrawal came shortly after a shareholder filed a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking to block a vote on the pay package, which GameStop has said it intends to fight.

Cohen holds his ground publicly

In a Bloomberg Television interview on July 16, Cohen declined to say whether he would raise his offer, but made clear he has not given up. "We're coming for eBay one way or another," he said. Pressed further on his strategy, Cohen added, "I'm not going to negotiate against myself," signaling he has no intention of bidding against his own initial offer without a response from eBay's board. Cohen also described his broader ambitions for a combined company, saying he envisions building it into a business worth $1 trillion by tying GameStop's collectibles business to eBay's marketplace reach.

Why analysts remain doubtful

Despite Cohen's public confidence, most analysts covering the situation continue to question whether GameStop can realistically complete a deal of this size. Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School, said the offer amounted to little more than a distraction for eBay's board, arguing that without a substantial cash commitment, the proposal was "only a promise of a ride on the meme-coaster." Eden Chen, chief executive of gaming software company FirstLook, framed the core problem more simply, asking, "How does a $10 billion company take over a $50 billion company?"

The financing structure remains a central sticking point. GameStop's offer relies heavily on issuing its own stock as partial payment, a structure that ties the deal's value directly to GameStop's often-volatile share price — a risk eBay's board specifically flagged in its rejection letter, along with questions about how the combined company would be led and how Cohen's compensation would be structured.

GameStop has signaled it may eventually take its case directly to eBay shareholders rather than continuing to negotiate solely with the company's board, a move that would escalate the standoff into a more public campaign. Whether that translates into a formal tender offer, a proxy fight, or simply continued share accumulation remains unclear. For now, eBay's board has shown no indication it plans to reconsider, while GameStop has shown no indication it plans to stop buying shares or making its intentions known.

Investors in both companies are left watching a takeover attempt that defies typical patterns: an unsolicited, partly stock-financed bid from a smaller company for one nearly five times its size, sustained months after being publicly and firmly rejected. Whether persistence alone can eventually change eBay's calculus — or whether GameStop's campaign fades the way many rejected takeover bids do — is likely to become clearer in the months ahead as GameStop continues building its stake and eBay continues executing its own turnaround plan.