eBay rejects GameStop's $56 billion takeover bid

3 min readUpdated May 12, 2026

eBay rejected GameStop $GME's unsolicited $56 billion takeover bid on Tuesday, with eBay's board declaring the offer "neither credible nor attractive."

Paul Pressler, eBay's chairman, said in a letter to GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen that six considerations shaped the board's rejection: how eBay would fare on its own, doubts about the financing plan's viability, what the transaction would mean for eBay's long-term growth and profitability, the debt burden and operational exposure a merger would create, how those risks affected the deal's valuation, and questions about GameStop's governance structure and executive pay incentives.

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GameStop $GME did not respond to requests for comment, according to CNBC.

The proposal, unveiled the previous week, called for purchasing eBay shares at $125 apiece — representing a 20% markup over where the stock closed the prior Friday — with half the consideration in cash and half in GameStop shares. eBay's market cap stands at about $48 billion, while GameStop's is about $10.3 billion.

To fund the acquisition, Cohen pointed to a $20 billion debt commitment secured from TD Securities, a TD Bank subsidiary, alongside approximately $9.4 billion in cash GameStop had on its balance sheet as of January 31, 2026. eBay noted that the TD Securities letter was the only document it received with GameStop's proposal that GameStop itself omitted from its own public disclosures, the company said.

Among the operational arguments Cohen advanced: a promise to extract $2 billion in annual savings from eBay within twelve months of closing, and a vision for GameStop's approximately 1,600 domestic store locations to take on authentication and order-fulfillment roles within eBay's marketplace. In his CNBC appearance, Cohen said the combined company's cost structure would look dramatically different, singling out workforce size and what he characterized as an outsized marketing budget as areas he would address.

Despite those arguments, the financing gap drew scrutiny. When Cohen appeared on CNBC, he declined to specify how the remaining funding would be sourced beyond saying GameStop had the ability to issue new stock.

With the board having turned down his proposal, Cohen's next move could be a direct appeal to eBay's shareholder base — an approach he had signaled in advance, according to Bloomberg, saying he would bypass the board if necessary and make the case for the deal himself.

The bid had already drawn skepticism from some investors. Investor Michael Burry sold his entire position in GameStop after the proposal was announced, writing that the debt load required to complete the deal was incompatible with his investment thesis for the company. He calculated that leverage would reach about 7.7 times debt to EBITDA at the proposed valuation — a level he described as bordering on distressed.

The initial non-binding offer surfaced on a Sunday, at which point GameStop also revealed it had quietly built up an approximate 5% stake in eBay, using a mix of direct share purchases and derivatives to accumulate the position. At the time of the announcement, Cohen stated he envisioned himself running the resulting company as chief executive, foregoing both a salary and cash bonuses in favor of pay linked exclusively to how the merged business performed.

Goods worth nearly $80 billion changed hands across eBay's platform during 2025, the company noted.

eBay rejects GameStop's takeover bid, calling it 'neither credible nor attractive'

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