Ryan Cohen built Chewy into a top online pet retailer and sold it to PetSmart. He then rebuilt GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME)'s balance sheet after the meme-stock era. Now he wants to buy a company roughly four times GameStop's size. He stated in a recent interview with Bloomberg:
"We're coming for eBay one way or another."
GameStop now owns 43.4 million eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) shares, a 9.8% stake, according to a regulatory filing. The firm bought 3.5 million shares for about $381 million between June 8 and June 15. It then converted 39 million more shares from put/call options on July 17. This follows the 5% stake GameStop disclosed in May alongside an unsolicited offer to buy eBay for about $125 per share, valuing the deal at roughly $56 billion. eBay's board rejected the offer within days, calling it "neither credible nor attractive" and noting concerns about GameStop's financing and the logic of the combination.
That raises a simple question. Can a company one-fourth the size of its target actually complete this deal and swallow a giant (eBay)? And if it can't, does building a near-10% stake still make sense for GameStop shareholders, or is Cohen spending real capital on a bid he can't close?
Cohen's record supports the bull case. He built Chewy into a category leader, which gives him more credibility than a typical activist. GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) also has the cash to back this move: it holds roughly $7.38 billion. That lets Cohen build a large stake without further diluting shareholders. GameStop has positioned itself as one of eBay's largest shareholders by building close to the 10% ownership threshold. Even without a full deal, the stake gives him leverage. He has opened talks with eBay's largest institutional shareholders, a move that could force board engagement or a better outcome on its own.
Secondly, the collectibles logic holds up too. Trading cards and collectibles already make up about 42% of GameStop's revenue. Cohen wants to use GameStop's roughly 1,600 stores as authentication hubs for cards, reaching about 80% of the U.S. population within a 15-minute drive. On the other hand, eBay lacks that physical network. GameStop's own numbers back the swing as well: the corporation projects adjusted EBITDA above $600 million for the fiscal year ending January 2027, nearly double the $345.4 million it reported in fiscal 2025.
The bear case comes down to financing, the same issue eBay's board raised. GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME)'s only backing is a non-binding letter from TD Securities for up to $20 billion. That letter depends on the combined company reaching an investment-grade credit rating, a rating that's hard to get before the deal closes and hard to close without the financing that rating unlocks.
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