GameStop presses on with $56 billion eBay takeover bid

GameStop is refusing to let eBay’s rejection end the fight, a sign that Ryan Cohen still sees the online marketplace as the centerpiece of a much bigger transformation and investors are being asked to price in both ambition and risk. The bet is unusual even by Wall Street standards: a videogame retailer with a roughly 5% economic stake in eBay is trying to use a cash-and-stock offer to reshape an e-commerce giant and position it as a stronger rival to Amazon.

GameStop said it would continue pursuing the takeover after eBay’s board turned down its non-binding proposal for 100% of the company at $125.00 a share. The offer, announced May 3, was split evenly between cash and GameStop common stock and valued eBay at about $55.5 billion, a 46% premium to eBay’s unaffected closing price on February 4, 2026, the day GameStop began building its position. eBay’s board rejected the bid on May 12 after reviewing it with independent advisers, saying it was “neither credible nor attractive.”

The market’s first question is whether GameStop can actually finance and integrate a deal of that size. The company said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to top $600 million in fiscal 2026, up from $345.4 million in fiscal 2025. That is a meaningful improvement, but it also sits far below the scale of a transaction that would place GameStop in control of a business worth more than $55 billion. The structure of the bid, half cash and half stock, also leaves eBay holders exposed to GameStop’s own valuation and operating execution.

Cohen has already shown he is willing to pay a steep personal price to keep the campaign alive. GameStop disclosed that he would give up a potential performance award worth as much as $35 billion, tied to stock and operating targets that required GameStop to reach a $100 billion market cap and $10 billion in cumulative EBITDA. That decision underscores how much of this contest has become about changing GameStop’s identity, not just buying another company.

eBay, led by chief executive Jamie Iannone, has pushed back by leaning on its standalone prospects and the rebound in its shares during his tenure. Reuters previously reported that Cohen was prepared to take the bid directly to shareholders if the board stayed unreceptive, raising the prospect of a more public confrontation. GameStop shares rose more than 2% in extended trading after the company reiterated its pursuit, suggesting investors still see a speculative path forward even as the financing and integration hurdles remain steep.