GameStop offers to buy eBay for $56 billion in half-cash, half-stock deal

GameStop today announced its full bid for eBay, offering to buy the company for $56 billion.

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GameStop has made a public offer to buy eBay in a deal worth $56 billion, made up of 50% stock and 50% cash. In a press release issued today, GameStop says that its $125 per share bid "represents a 46% premium to eBay's unaffected closing price on February 4, 2026," and that the bid is a 27% and 36% premium to eBay's respective 30-day and 90-day stock averages.

The numbers were somewhat quizzical, given GameStop's position; the company currently has a market cap of $11 billion, and around $9.4 billion of cash on hand. With a $20 billion letter that GameStop has secured from TD Securities, the firm would still be over $15 billion shy of full buyout amount.

When pressed on this in an interview with CNBC, Cohen responded: "We're offering half-cash, half-stock, and we have the ability to issue stock in order to get the deal done."

"There's going to be some leverage on the balance sheet to make an acquisition possible, but it's also going to be making a lot more money in the future than it does today because it's going to be run a lot more efficiently."

Elsewhere in the interview, Cohen asserts that eBay is stagnant and has a lot of extraneous spending points. The business would be substantially larger with a capable operator, Cohen says.

"This is a business that is under-earning and could make a lot more money."

"When a business is not growing users and is spending $2.5 billion on sales and marketing, there's a lot of fat to cut. The earnings power, as we laid out in our investor presentation, is way higher--double the earnings in a pretty short period of time.

"It's a business that can take on more leverage because it's going to be making more money in the future."

GameStop has not had any active conversations prior to today's announcement, and the company had been slowly building up a 5% stake in eBay over time.

The company's stock is down -10.14% on today's news, whereas eBay's stock is up +5%.

eBay has since put out a press release confirming it has received GameStop's unsolicited proposal.

"eBay's Board of Directors, in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, will carefully review and consider the unsolicited proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company and all eBay shareholders. eBay shareholders are advised to take no action at this time."