GameStop Pitches $56 Billion Takeover Offer for eBay

GameStop has thrown down a $125-a-share, cash-and-stock offer for eBay that values the marketplace at about $55.5 billion to $56 billion, a striking attempt by a company worth far less to buy one nearly four times its size. The proposal, disclosed May 3, was non-binding, but it immediately turned one of the market’s most familiar meme-stock names into a serious test of whether speculative capital can be converted into corporate control.

The numbers show how ambitious the pitch is. GameStop said the bid represented a 20% premium to eBay’s Friday close and a 46% premium to eBay’s unaffected closing price on February 4, when GameStop said it began building its position. The company said it had accumulated about a 5% economic stake through derivatives and beneficial ownership, and it reported $9.0 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of fiscal 2025. To bridge the gap, GameStop said TD Securities and TD Bank had issued an initial non-binding financing letter for up to about $20 billion in debt.

That financing structure is the heart of the story. GameStop is not making a hand-waving gesture; it is trying to assemble enough capital, leverage and investor confidence to challenge a much larger target. GameStop also said it expects to find about $2 billion in annual savings within 12 months of closing, a target that suggests it sees operational overlap in e-commerce, collectibles and marketplace logistics. Even so, the arithmetic remains daunting, especially for a company whose own market value was around $12 billion when eBay’s hovered near $46.6 billion.

eBay, meanwhile, is not a distressed seller. It said it had 135 million active buyers as of December 31, 2025, generated about $3.0 billion in revenue in 2025 and posted gross merchandise volume of $21.2 billion. In February, its board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.31 a share and authorized another $2.0 billion in share repurchases, while the company also moved to buy Depop for about $1.2 billion to deepen its reach with younger, fashion-focused consumers. That makes eBay a functioning platform with a sizable user base, not a broken asset waiting to be rescued.

Ryan Cohen has framed the target as a way to turn GameStop into a broader e-commerce and collectibles business, and he has argued that eBay could become a much bigger competitor to Amazon. The first takeover reports sent eBay up more than 15% in after-hours trading, with GameStop also rising. What happens next will show whether a company born in the 2021 retail frenzy can turn a market cult into operating leverage, or whether this bid is another reminder that financial theater is easier than building a credible takeover machine.