GameStop Corp.'s pursuit of e-commerce giant eBay remains one of the most closely watched and contentious corporate sagas in the market right now, with Chief Executive Ryan Cohen escalating his stake in the company even as eBay's board has firmly rejected the offer and Wall Street analysts remain deeply skeptical the deal will ever close.

The Original Proposal

GameStop Corp. submitted a non-binding proposal on May 3, 2026, to acquire 100% of eBay Inc. at $125.00 per share in cash and stock. The offer represented a 46% premium to eBay's unaffected closing price on February 4, 2026, the day GameStop began accumulating its position in eBay. GameStop disclosed it had built a 5% economic stake in eBay through derivatives and beneficial ownership of common stock.

The proposed offer comprised 50% cash and 50% GameStop common stock, with full shareholder election rights as to consideration type and pro-rata allocation. Aggregate undiluted equity value was approximately $55.5 billion, based on eBay's most recently disclosed undiluted share count, representing a 27% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price and a 36% premium to the 90-day volume-weighted average price.

The cash consideration was expected to be funded from a combination of cash and liquid investments on GameStop's balance sheet, which totaled approximately $9.4 billion as of January 31, 2026, and third-party acquisition financing, for which GameStop received a highly-confident letter from TD Securities for up to $20 billion.

eBay's Firm Rejection

eBay's board responded to the unsolicited proposal with a swift and pointed rejection. eBay Chairman Paul Pressler called the unsolicited offer "neither credible nor attractive" in a sharply worded letter to Cohen.

Despite that rejection, Cohen pressed forward, taking the campaign directly to eBay's shareholders rather than backing down. GameStop's CEO has publicly stated he's prepared........

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