Ryan Cohen, the billionaire activist investor and CEO of GameStop, has made a $56 billion bid to buy eBay, marking his most ambitious deal to date. In a filing yesterday (May 3), GameStop offered $125 per share in a cash-and-stock exchange, a nearly 20 percent premium to eBay's closing price last week and a 46 percent premium through the end of Feb. 4, the day GameStop first built a 5 percent stake in the company. Once completed, Cohen will lead the combined company as CEO.
Cohen is no stranger to bold bets. He founded pet retailer Chewy in 2011 and sold it to PetSmart for $3.35 billion in 2017. He later rose to prominence during the 2020 meme stock boom, holding a stake in GameStop, joining its board in 2021 and becoming CEO in 2023. Under his leadership, the $418 million Gamestop reported $412 million. driven largely by aggressive cost-cutting. He has also taken on executive positions at companies such as Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond, the latter of which earned $68 million.
Cohen's pitch for eBay centers on a similar cost discipline. GameStop says it can cut $2 billion in annual costs across sales and marketing, product development, and general administrative activities. The company also says its 1,600 US retail locations can support eBay's operations in authentication, fulfillment and live trading.
Where will the money come from?
The proposal immediately raised questions about funding. GameStop, which has a market capitalization of about $11 billion, has about $9 billion in cash and a reported $20 billion funding letter from TD Gap, but that still leaves a big shortfall. eBay shares rose 5 percent on the news, while GameStop fell 8 percent amid investor skepticism. “We give the deal a low chance of success,” Baird analyst Colin Sebastian wrote in a note.
Cohen declined to provide detailed financial plans during CNBC's appearance, describing eBay as “a low-income business that can make a lot of money.”
eBay confirmed it had received the unsolicited offer and said its board would review it with advisers. The company noted that it had no prior communication with GameStop regarding the bid.
The offer comes as eBay is in the midst of its transformation under CEO Jamie Iannone, who is focused on integrating AI tools and streamlining the sales process. The company has also targeted younger users, including its acquisition of second-hand fashion platform Depop in February.
Recent results suggest the strategy is gaining traction. In the first quarter of 2026, eBay's revenue rose 19 percent year over year to $3.1 billion, while its profit grew 2 percent to $512 million. Its stock is up nearly 60 percent in the past year, and the platform currently serves about 135 million consumers.
That momentum makes the deal difficult to justify, some analysts say. “Why are you interrupting things?” Bernstein analyst Nikhil Devnani wrote. “The replacement is working.”
