GameStop has made a surprise $55.5 billion takeover bid for eBay, offering $125 per share in a 50% cash, 50% stock proposal that represents a 27% premium to eBay’s 30-day volume-weighted average price.
CEO Ryan Cohen said eBay could rival Amazon under his leadership, and warned he would take the bid directly to shareholders if eBay’s board rejected it.
eBay’s board said it would review the proposal, while analysts were skeptical.
Morgan Stanley called the two companies’ business models “fundamentally different,” and Bernstein said it would be “surprised if anything became of it.”
A smaller buyer chasing a larger target
GameStop, valued at roughly $11.9 billion, is attempting to acquire a company worth about four times more.
The cash portion would draw on GameStop’s $9.4 billion in liquid assets plus a $20 billion commitment letter from TD Securities.
Cohen’s operational plan includes $2 billion in annualized cost cuts within 12 months, targeting eBay’s sales and marketing division, which GameStop said spent $2.4 billion in fiscal 2025 while adding only around 1 million net active buyers.
GameStop’s roughly 1,600 US retail locations would also serve as authentication, intake, and fulfillment hubs for eBay’s marketplace, particularly in collectibles, trading cards, and luxury goods.
What this could mean for Bitcoin
GameStop approved bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset and purchased 4,710 BTC for $513 million in May 2025, later pledging the holdings as collateral to Coinbase for a yield-generating options strategy.
Acquiring eBay would put that crypto infrastructure in front of 135 million active buyers across 190 markets and nearly $80 billion in gross merchandise volume.
Possible applications include Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network for cross-border transactions, Bitcoin-linked seller balances, and blockchain-based authentication for high-value collectibles — though none of these have been officially proposed.
Deal faces steep hurdles
eBay’s board has not endorsed the offer, and the bid remains non-binding.
GameStop shares fell more than 9% on the announcement while eBay rose 5%, reflecting investor doubt over whether GameStop can finance and close a transaction of this scale.
Retail analyst Sucharita Kodali of Forrester told the BBC the proposal was not a “terribly good offer,” noting it would saddle eBay with significant debt, adding:
“The truth is, we are not necessarily putting two strong companies together.”
