The US video game retail chain GameStop made an unsolicited takeover offer worth around $55.5 billion to the online marketplace Ebay on Sunday. The aim is to make Ebay a “real competitor” for the giant Amazon.
The group, a global leader in video games, announced in a statement that it had gradually acquired shares in the sales platform since February 4th. Ebay’s market capitalization is four times higher. GameStop currently holds around five percent of the capital.
GameStop is offering $125 per share. The financing is provided half in shares and half in cash. This represents a 46 percent premium to the average price since the company began purchasing.
“Ebay should be worth more and will be worth more,” said Ryan Cohen, the company’s boss, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The interview was published on Sunday, shortly before the official announcement. “I’m thinking of turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars,” he added.
However, he also warned that he would contact shareholders directly if eBay management did not respond to his offer. The next general meeting of the sales platform is planned for June. However, the deadline for submitting applications has already passed, according to the WSJ.
Cohen assured that he had a binding commitment from TD Bank, a subsidiary of Canada’s TD Bank Group, for financing of around $20 billion through the issuance of debt securities.
In the statement, the company stated that it had cash of around $9.4 billion as of January 31st. It said it is confident it will achieve annual cost savings of $2 billion within 12 months of the deal closing.
Big appetite
As of Friday’s close, GameStop’s market capitalization was $11.89 billion and eBay’s was $46.21 billion. Ebay was founded in Silicon Valley in 1995 and developed into an established player in online trading in the 2000s. However, the company suffered from the rise of the giant Amazon.
In 2025, the platform generated revenue of $11.10 billion and net profit of $2.03 billion. GameStop generated $3.69 billion in revenue and $418 million in net income in its 2025 fiscal year, which ended in late March.
Cohen, head of GameStop since January 2021, would take over the management of the new company. The statement highlights that since joining, the group has moved from a net loss of $381 million in 2021 to a net profit of $418 million in 2025.
He owns around nine percent of GameStop. According to the statement, he receives no salary or bonuses and has no provision for a ‘golden parachute’ in his contract in the event of his departure.
GameStop shook Wall Street in 2021. An influential punter nicknamed “Roaring Kitty” had defended the stock on YouTube and Reddit. He accused speculative investment funds of trying to bring about the end of the video game business.
Numerous small investors followed Keith Gill, his real name, online. The former, penniless financial analyst caused significant financial losses to investment companies. The Melvin Capital fund had to be rescued by other investment companies with $2.75 billion and has since disappeared.
The analyst appeared again on May 13, 2024, after which GameStop shares rose more than 70 percent that day. In May 2025, the group caused a stir again after purchasing almost 5,000 Bitcoin, worth around $500 million at the time.
A few months earlier, in February, the company had announced its intention to sell the Micromania-Zing stores, which specialized in the distribution of video games in France. To date this has not yet happened. The rise of video game streaming, accessible directly over the Internet, has threatened the physical video game sales sector.
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