GameStop Preparing Takeover Offer for eBay — Ryan Cohen Eyes $100B Empire

In what may be the most audacious corporate move of 2026, GameStop is preparing a takeover offer for eBay. According to The Wall Street Journal, CEO Ryan Cohen has been quietly accumulating eBay shares and could submit a formal bid as early as late May.

The math makes the ambition clear — and the challenge obvious. GameStop's market cap sits at approximately $12 billion. eBay is valued at roughly $46 billion. Cohen is effectively trying to buy a company nearly four times his own size.

Cohen's $100 Billion Vision

The acquisition attempt is part of Cohen's broader plan to transform GameStop from a struggling video game retailer into a diversified holding company with a market value exceeding $100 billion. The stakes are personal: Cohen's revised compensation package begins vesting when GameStop's market value reaches $20 billion, with full vesting at $100 billion — potentially earning him up to $35 billion in stock compensation.

Cohen hinted at this strategy earlier in 2026, characterizing the upcoming move as a decision that would be perceived as "either a stroke of genius or a total failure." The eBay bid appears to be that decision.

Why eBay?

The strategic logic has several layers. eBay is a global leader in collectibles and trading cards — a market where GameStop has been aggressively expanding. eBay generated $581 million in advertising revenue last quarter alone, with $555 million from its own ad products, representing 33% year-over-year growth. The platform has also invested heavily in AI-powered agentic commerce — using AI agents to handle shopping tasks like discovery and price comparison.

For GameStop, acquiring eBay would provide an established e-commerce platform, a massive user base, sophisticated ad infrastructure, and AI capabilities that would be prohibitively expensive to build from scratch.

Following the WSJ report, eBay shares surged 12% in after-hours trading while GameStop rose 4% — reflecting market expectations about who benefits most from the potential deal.

Can It Actually Work?

The financial hurdles are enormous. Acquiring a company valued at $46 billion while maintaining a $12 billion valuation requires creative financial engineering. GameStop would likely need to leverage its substantial cash reserves (the company has been accumulating cash from stock sales), potentially issue new equity, and possibly bring in private equity partners.

If eBay's board rejects the offer, GameStop could take the bid directly to eBay shareholders, bypassing company leadership entirely. This hostile approach would be unprecedented for a company of GameStop's size and would test whether Cohen's cult-like retail investor following can influence an acquisition of this scale.

Market Reaction

Following the WSJ report, GameStop shares rose 3.96% in after-hours trading while eBay surged 11.82%. The disparity tells its own story: the market sees more value accruing to eBay shareholders (who would receive a premium) than to GameStop shareholders (who face dilution risk).

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen's revised compensation package begins vesting at $20 billion market cap — with full vesting at $100 billion, potentially earning him $35 billion in stock.

GameStop has shown it can defy conventional business logic — the 2021 short squeeze proved that. But acquiring eBay would require something beyond meme stock energy: it would require genuine strategic execution, integration capability, and operational excellence. Whether Cohen and his team possess those qualities at this scale remains the central question.

The saga is just beginning. If GameStop formally submits an offer in late May, expect the most closely watched corporate battle of 2026.