Wall Street Skeptical Of GameStop CEO's $56 Billion eBay Takeover Bid

Summary:

• GameStop CEO Tells CNBC: We Haven't Heard Anything Yet From eBay

• Wall Street analysts "skeptical" about the GameStop Takeover of eBay

• GameStop CEO Reveals Unsolicited Offer to Buy eBay

Wall Street Analysts Respond

eBay shares jumped as much as 13% in New York premarket trading after GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen told The Wall Street Journal that he had submitted a $56 billion takeover bid for the online marketplace.

Cohen's deal appears to be part of his strategy to transform eBay into a direct competitor to Amazon, leveraging GameStop's retail footprint and logistics infrastructure to create a larger e-commerce platform.

Wall Street analysts were broadly "skeptical" of Cohen's ability to finance the deal because eBay's market capitalization is nearly four times that of GameStop's, and Truist estimates that GameStop would need nearly $20 billion in debt financing.

Here's the latest comments from analysts, courtesy of Bloomberg:

Morgan Stanley (overweight)

• Analyst Nathan Feather notes the key question in any hypothetical acquisition scenario would be financing, as eBay's market cap is roughly four times larger than Gamestop

• "We are also initially skeptical on potential synergies. Regardless of outcome, confirmation of an offer would demonstrate eBay's increased potential strategic value"

• Notes that regardless of whether Gamestop's bid is successful, an offer would demonstrate how eBay "has been able to increase its strategic value as it has focused on its key strengths (focus categories, C2C, and recommerce) which could also be of interest to other potential acquirers"

Truist (hold)

• Analyst Youssef Squali is "skeptical of the ultimate success of this pursuit" at first glance; calls the bid "stunning"

• "GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, who has accumulated a ~5% stake in the marketplace (through stock and options), indicated he is prepared to initiate a proxy fight to take the offer directly to shareholders if eBay's board remains unreceptive"

• Notes that Gamestop ended 2025 with a "significantly bolstered balance sheet," but deal would still require nearly $20 billion of debt financing to bridge valuation gap.

Trigon Brokerage (no rating)

• Analyst Dominik Niszcz says deal valuation is seen to be "justified by potential synergies, including significant cost savings, the combination of asset-light eBay (a weakness versus Amazon) with GameStop's physical stores and logistics, as well as a revenue 'flywheel' in collectibles and gaming products."

Meanwhile, GME shares fell 6% in premarket trading as retail traders received a real-time lesson in merger arbitrage, with the momentum stock running into a brick wall of a proposed $56 billion eBay takeover. 

GameStop CEO Reveals Unsolicited Offer to Buy eBay

Update: GameStop - the meme stonk that also happens to sell video games, is making an unsolicited offer to buy Ebay for around $56 billion, and already has a commitment letter from TD Bank to provide $20 billion in debt financing to help make it happen, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

According to Cohen, GameStop has built up a 5% stake in Ebay and is offering $125/share in cash and stock - which makes for a roughly 20% premium to Friday's closing price.

"EBay should be worth—and will be worth—a lot more money," said Cohen in an interview. "I'm thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars."

If eBay resists Cohen's advances, he's ready to run a proxy fight and take it directly to shareholders. 

"There is nobody who is more qualified, based on my experience, to run the eBay business," Cohen said - noting his time at GameStop, and previously Chewy - the online pet-products marketplace he co-founded. 

* * *

Three months ago, billionaire Ryan Cohen, the CEO of GameStop, told The Wall Street Journal he was eyeing a major acquisition. Fast forward to late last week, and in what appears to be an intentional leak to the same outlet, Cohen's next move may now be coming into focus: preparing an offer to buy eBay.

The WSJ cites sources who say that Cohen's GameStop has built a $12 billion position in eBay ahead of a potential offer. Notably, eBay has a market capitalization 3.8 times larger than that of the video game retailer.

Sources said Cohen could announce the offer as early as this month, and if eBay rejects it, he may take the bid directly to shareholders.

In late January, Cohen told WSJ that he was eyeing a major transaction and searching for deals in the consumer and retail space, as part of a plan to expand the business far beyond video games and collectibles. 

WSJ's Lauren Thomas noted, "GameStop had around $9 billion in cash on hand at the end of March, up from $4.8 billion a year earlier. Cohen would likely enlist his legions of online followers to rally behind a deal, too."

The report comes as GameStop shares are up about 32% this year on hopes for dealmaking, while eBay shares are up nearly 20% this year.

However, one week ago, we penned a note covering AI startup Anthropic, which quietly released a report titled "Project Deal" suggesting the company may be preparing to take on eBay.