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Ryan Cohen described where talks stand after an offer made “yesterday.” He said the bid is $125 per share, with “half cash, half stock.” He explained the structure as giving existing shareholders $28,000,000,000 in cash (about a 40% premium from the time buying began) and rolling the remainder into the combined GameStop and eBay company, with Cohen saying he will be running eBay and expects the earnings power to “increase substantially” and the platform to be able to grow after stagnating over the last decade.
On the “big vision” for the combined entity, Cohen emphasized collectibles—trading cards and collectibles—particularly the need for trust and authenticity. He said GameStop has 1,600 stores that can authenticate items in live commerce using physical infrastructure and that sellers could ship or GameStop could ship. He also discussed increasing product intake by bringing more inventory onto the platform. He cited live commerce as an additional growth area, arguing that eBay has a large user base (he referenced “130,000,000 users”) that competitors have struggled against in live commerce. He said live commerce would involve partnering with creators, improving the platform’s technology and UI consistency, and building the incentive structure for creators so the integration is “deeply” connected rather than relying on simple referral codes.
Cohen addressed why eBay might not have been pursued more and said that some strategic players had “circled around” earlier but nothing happened, and he stated large competitors wouldn’t be able to clear antitrust, while he believed a merger could receive regulatory clearance. He described efficiency plans using GameStop as an example, saying he “breathed a lot of life” into a business he called a “dog,” including pulling back “SG&A by 47%” and making marketing more efficient. He said eBay spends large amounts on sales and marketing and corporate overhead, and he claimed many marketing spend decisions don’t translate into profit, framing it as perverse incentives and job protection. He also said he would not run a “leverage business,” would pay down debt, increase earnings, and make cost-cutting happen quickly.
When asked about inspiration from Elon Musk and Twitter’s take-private, Cohen discussed Twitter’s situation in terms of advertisers and said engineering teams move faster with smaller groups. On LLMs, he said eBay’s business model is more certain than most tech businesses and that eBay is unlikely to be disrupted, also saying he expects continued durability despite limited innovation.
Cohen said that if an M&A deal doesn’t occur, he’s still looking at ways to protect his investment and improve the business, with an emphasis that his goal is owning and running eBay rather than being an activist. He referenced Chewy as a comparable “on steroids” model and suggested eBay has “much more runway,” including global potential. He said his compensation is “based on performance, 100%,” tied to market-cap thresholds, and he said he hasn’t taken salary or bonuses.
He also raised internal alignment and potential friction: he said he is cutting marketing spend and believes the board may dislike his calls on board fees, and he discussed a GameStop career-page listing for a “personal assistant,” describing it as a benefit using company resources and saying he personally pays for his assistant.
Regarding deal logistics, Cohen said the cash is accounted for today via a highly confident bank letter for “$20,000,000,000 plus,” plus “9,000,000,000 of cash,” and the remainder would be rolling equity into the combined company. He said he wants to own eBay at $125 per share but believes it could be worth much more if he runs it, and he said he would roll 100% of the equity.
He discussed eBay’s digital marketplace ambitions, stating eBay is already buying and selling digital items but fraud and chargebacks remain issues, and he said digital gaming is a “huge opportunity.” On AI internally, he said he’s seen eBay make listings easier by generating product descriptions, but he said selling still involves many steps and is “too difficult,” and he pointed again to GameStop’s store footprint as a way to increase intake and simplify real item listings.
He said the GameStop store footprint could expand or shrink depending on lease utility, traffic, and profitability, with short-term leases (two to three years). He also discussed a possible partnership where GameStop authenticates rare collectibles for a price funded by eBay, saying it would take “$0 in CapEx,” but also said he reached out to eBay earlier and it “never gained any traction,” citing lack of urgency. He mentioned mutual retro gaming growth, saying their retro business in stores is still small but growing, with “return rates” described as high. For the rest of the week, he said it was largely “in their court.”