GameStop makes $55.5bn takeover offer for eBay

GameStop's boss Ryan Cohen says he sees potential to make eBay a much bigger rival to Amazon. GameStop makes $55.5bn takeover offer for eBay Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. A GameStop store is seen in the Jackson Heights neighbourhood of Queens, New York City Video game retailer GameStop has made a surprise $55.5bn (£40.9bn) offer to buy e-commerce giant eBay. The cash and stock offer values eBay at $125 a share, $20 more than the company's value when trading ended in New York on Friday. , $20 more than the company's value when trading ended in New York on Friday. GameStop's chief executive, Ryan Cohen, said eBay could be much more successful under his leadership and even rival Amazon. GameStop's chief executive, Ryan Cohen, said eBay could under his leadership and even rival Amazon. He also said he was prepared to take his bid directly to shareholders if eBay's board rejected it. eBay said it will consider the proposal but analysts expressed doubts about the idea. he was prepared to take his bid directly to shareholders if eBay's board rejected it. eBay said it will consider the proposal but analysts expressed doubts about the idea. Morgan Stanley said the two companies had "fundamentally different" business models, while Bernstein pointed to GameStop's smaller balance sheet, saying it would be "surprised if anything became of it". GameStop rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic when it became the centre of the so-called meme stock craze. This saw retail investors buy up shares in unloved companies that professional investors had bet against, causing their share price to rise and fall sharply. that professional investors had bet against, causing their share price to rise and fall sharply. The chain still has around 1,600 outlets in the US and has seen something of a turnaround under Cohen. Its net profit rose to $418.4m in 2025 - up from $131.3m the previous year - although sales fell. eBay, which is worth about four times more than GameStop, was launched in 1995 as a marketplace for hobbyists and became one of tech's best-known brands. But its user base has shrunk amid competition from the likes of Amazon. It currently has 136 million users worldwide, down from 175 million in 2018. GameStop: What is it and why is it trending? The 'insane' money in trading collectible cards "eBay should be worth - and will be worth - a lot more money," Cohen told the Wall Street Journal. "It could be a legit competitor to Amazon," he added. Under the proposed deal to buy eBay, Cohen would become the chief executive of the new firm and receive no salary or bonuses, being "compensated solely based on the performance of the combined company". GameStop, which currently has a stock market valuation of around $11.9bn, said it has a commitment letter from TD Securities to provide around $20bn in debt to help finance the takeover. Cohen said he planned to cut costs at eBay by $2bn within a year of a deal being completed. This would mainly fall across eBay's sales and marketing division, which GameStop said had failed to attract more users to a "marketplace with near-universal brand recognition". The proposal does not sound like a "terribly good offer" as it would saddle eBay with GameStop's debt, said Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at research firm Forrester. It makes sense for GameStop because it could lift its valuation by being linked with a larger company like eBay, she told the BBC. "The truth is, we are not necessarily putting two strong companies together," Kodali added. Shares in eBay rose by 5.5% on Monday morning in New York, while GameStop fell by more than 4%. GameStop's shops would give eBay a national network for its "live commerce" and other business operations, Cohen said. Cohen, who became the GameStop boss in 2023, has criticised its slow shift into e-commerce. The "pre-loved" fashion firm has been sold by Etsy just five years after it bought the firm. Here's what you need to know about tax rules if you're selling items online. Archaeologists say the copy of the Roman artefact "ripped off" their work. The bill is tied to the estate left by the firm's late chairman Lee Kun-hee, who died in October 2020. Local politicians say the move is in line with the Dutch capital's environmental targets. It's cheaper and faster to collect people's opinions using AI, but will it make polls more accurate? Axios reported that US Central Command has prepared a plan for a wave of "short and powerful" strikes on Iran. The family dynasty behind Samsung is so complicated it regularly makes headline news in South Korea.