GameStop Takes a Swing at eBay with $55B Bid – and a Warning

The Guardian, Business Insider, the Wall Street Journal, AP, FOX Business, and the Financial Times contributed to this report.

GameStop is going big – really big. The meme-stock icon has launched a $55.5 billion takeover bid for eBay, and its CEO isn’t shy about turning up the pressure if the offer gets brushed aside.

The proposal landed without warning. GameStop is offering $125 per share, split evenly between cash and stock, after quietly building a 5% stake in the online marketplace over the past few months. That’s a hefty premium – and a bold move for a company worth roughly $12 billion going into the bid, far smaller than eBay’s valuation.

Behind it all is Ryan Cohen, the architect of GameStop’s post-meme reinvention. In a letter to eBay chair Paul Pressler, Cohen laid out a plan to slash $2 billion in annual costs almost immediately. He’s pitching a leaner, faster eBay – and dreaming much bigger.

He told The Wall Street Journal he sees the platform becoming a “hundreds of billions” company, even floating the idea that it could go toe-to-toe with Amazon. That’s a stretch by any measure, but Cohen is clearly betting on a major reset.

And if eBay’s board isn’t interested? He’s ready to take the fight straight to shareholders and go hostile.

The financing is partly lined up. GameStop says it has backing for up to $20 billion in loans from TD Securities, with room to bring in outside investors – possibly even sovereign wealth funds – to close the gap.

The pitch hinges on blending GameStop’s physical footprint with eBay’s digital reach. Around 1,600 stores across the US could double as shipping hubs, authentication centers, even live-stream studios for auctions. Sellers walk in, items get verified on the spot, listings gain a trust badge. That’s the vision, anyway.

Still, not everyone’s buying it.

Michael Burry – best known for calling the 2008 crash – has been bullish on GameStop in the past, but this deal has him heading for the exit. He’s already signaled he may dump part or all of his stake, arguing the price tag is too high and the strategy too ordinary for such a massive gamble.

In his view, chasing eBay doesn’t solve the bigger problem. If GameStop wants to challenge Amazon, there are better targets out there, he says – companies with stronger logistics or built-in cash flow. Piling on debt for this kind of deal, he warns, could weigh down the business and choke off innovation.

Markets reacted quickly. eBay shares jumped more than 7% in premarket trading after the news broke. GameStop? Down about 3%.

eBay, for its part, said the offer came out of the blue. No prior talks, no heads-up. The board is now reviewing the proposal with its advisers, weighing whether this surprise bid has any real legs.

For now, it’s just an opening shot. But it’s a loud one – and it’s putting both companies under a very bright spotlight.