CEO Ryan Cohen plots bid for $46bn acquisition
Life
Ryan Cohen, GameStop
According to The Wall Street Journal, retailer GameStop is preparing a bid for online auction house eBay. CEO Ryan Cohen is reportedly looking to use this move to realise his ambition of increasing the market value of the ailing video game retailer more than tenfold.
Following the news, eBay’s share price, with a market value of around $46 billion, rose by about 14% in after-hours trading. GameStop’s shares, with a market value of almost $12 billion, gained around 4%.
GameStop is said to have quietly built up a stake in eBay shares in preparation for the takeover bid. If eBay is not open to negotiations, Cohen could opt to put the proposal directly to shareholders.
Details of the bid, which could be submitted as early as this month, are not yet known. Neither Cohen nor the companies involved gave any direct comment to questions from Reuters.
It is rare for a listed company to seek to acquire another business that is almost four times its size. Such deals typically require substantial debt financing, the issuance of new shares, or a combination of the two.
GameStop is an American retailer of computer games, consumer electronics and merchandise. Since 2025 it has also been investing in Bitcoin, making it what is known as a bitcoin treasury company.
Last year, the company had 3,203 stores worldwide, including 2,325 in the United States, 193 in Canada, 374 in Australia, and 311 in Europe under names such as GameStop, EB Games and Micromania.
Cohen, who joined GameStop’s board of directors in 2021 and became CEO in 2023, has returned the company to profitability through cost-cutting. Nonetheless, GameStop has been struggling for years with the shift towards online and digital sales, which has led to store closures and a greater focus on e-commerce.
In the past quarter, revenue fell by 14% to $1.10 billion. In contrast, eBay is performing strongly this year, with its share price up by more than 19% and a positive revenue outlook for the second quarter, thanks in part to growth in advertising, collectibles and live auctions.
Emerce