Acquisitions

GameStop offers $56 billion to buy eBay

The offer includes a 20% premium on the share price and aims to create an e-commerce giant led by Ryan Cohen

2 May 2026Aggiornato il 4 maggio 2026 alle ore 15:50

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Video game retailer GameStop has announced a bid to acquire the much larger online marketplace eBay. The offer amounts to about $56 billion in cash and stock, GameStop's ad, Ryan Cohen, told the Wall Street Journal.

Cohen said he wanted to use eBay to build a much stronger competitor to Amazon. After the acquisition, he aims to lead the merged company.

Binding proposal submitted

GameStop stated that it had submitted a non-binding offer of $125 per share and that the offer values eBay at approximately $55.5 billion, based on the most recent number of outstanding shares reported by eBay.

Cohen said that the offer represents a premium of about 20 per cent over the closing price on Friday 1 May (Wall Street was open, ndr).

In after-hours trading, eBay's shares had already risen to around $116 after the Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the matter, reported Cohen's plans for the bid.

GameStop already holds a stake of around 5% in eBay.

Cohen told the newspaper that he had already obtained a commitment for a loan of about USD 20 billion for the acquisition. It was initially unclear how the rest of the purchase price would be financed.

Prior to GameStop, Cohen co-founded and led Chewy, an online retailer specialising in pet products.

The parable of GameStop

In 2020, he acquired a significant stake in the video game retailer, criticising its management for being slow in expanding its online business, before taking over as CEO in 2023.

Since then, it has closed several shops and concentrated on sectors such as collectable cards and retro console games, which appeal to gamers' sense of nostalgia.

AlsoEbay is trying to focus more on profitable categories such as collectibles, car parts and second-hand clothing.

CEO Jamie Iannone has also made use of artificial intelligence to simplify shopping on the platform.

eBay says it will consider GameStop's offer

eBay stated that it will carefully examine and evaluate the takeover offer by GameStop.

"The Board of Directors will review this proposal focusing on the value to be provided to eBay's shareholders, including the value of GameStop's share consideration and GameStop's ability to present a binding and actionable proposal," eBay says.

'Until the Council has carefully and thoroughly examined the proposal, the company does not wish to comment further at this time'.

EBay as of 4pm on 4 May 2026 is up 7.9% (follow the trend). GameStop up 3.7%.

Who is Ryan Cohen

The billionaire investor, who joined GameStop's board of directors in January 2021 and became ceo in September 2023, led the company through a phase that saw it return to profitability thanks to drastic cost cuts. For years, GameStop has been struggling with the shift in consumer spending towards online and digital shopping, which has forced it to close many physical shops and focus on a web-based transformation.

The question now is: could the move on eBay - if it really comes - change the fortunes of the video game company? The market will be the judge of that.