GameStop Weighs Pulling Its $56 Billion eBay Bid After Rejection
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen is weighing whether to pull the company's US$56 billion bid to acquire eBay, according to a report by Bloomberg published on 10 August 2026. The reconsideration follows eBay's dismissal of the offer, which the online marketplace called "neither credible nor attractive" (GameSpot).
The original proposal offered eBay shareholders US$125 per share — half in cash, half in GameStop stock. Cohen said he could line up US$20 billion in debt financing from TD Bank and that GameStop held US$9 billion in cash to fund the purchase. Middle East sovereign wealth funds were reportedly among the outside sources of additional capital.
The bid was always an audacious fit on paper. GameStop, the video-game retailer operating roughly 1,600 physical stores across the US, carries a market capitalisation of about US$12 billion. eBay is valued at nearly US$54 billion. In other words, a company worth a fraction of its target was proposing to swallow it whole.
Cohen has now scrapped a CEO performance award worth approximately US$35 billion that was tied to closing the eBay deal, according to GameSpot. He holds a 9.8% stake in eBay, giving him a seat at the table even without a successful acquisition.
Rather than walk away entirely, Cohen is exploring a partnership or joint venture between the two companies, Bloomberg reported. The idea would let eBay tap GameStop's roughly 1,600 US retail locations while both companies grow their share of high-margin categories like trading cards and collectibles. Cohen has also floated building a marketplace for digital gaming items through eBay.
A partnership would be a quieter path to some of the same goals — collectibles revenue, physical-retail leverage, a foothold in digital goods — without the financing gymnastics of a full takeover. Whether eBay entertains that prospect remains an open question. The company's blunt rejection of the acquisition bid suggests it sees little appeal in tying itself to GameStop's smaller balance sheet.
What makes the standoff unusual is the scale of the gap between ambition and means. GameStop's cash pile, while substantial for a retailer, covers only a sliver of a US$56 billion price tag; the rest would rest on borrowed money and outside investors willing to bet that a high-street games chain can absorb a global online marketplace. Cohen's willingness to cancel his own pay package signals he read the room. The question now is whether a partnership pitch lands any better than the buyout did.
