Gamestop Chief Executive Ryan Cohen has made an unsolicited $55 billion offer to buy eBay, and the online marketplace promptly turned it down. eBay said the proposal was neither credible nor attractive, while Cohen said he would take his plan directly to shareholders.
The clash came into sharper focus after Cohen appeared on Piers Morgan’s show and called eBay’s management a bunch of losers. It was a blunt escalation from a chief executive already pressing his case in public, and it put one of the internet’s most familiar marketplaces squarely back in the middle of a governance fight.
The numbers help explain why the bid got attention, even if the company itself rejected it. eBay’s stock was up 30% year to date and 65% over the last year, trading at 18 times forward earnings and paying a 1.1% dividend. In its most recent quarter, gross merchandise volume rose about 18% from a year earlier, revenue increased about 19%, and the company had 136 million buyers, up about 1% year over year.
Those figures show a business that has not been standing still. eBay has found a niche in collectibles and trading cards, and Cohen said on Piers Morgan’s program that people are also turning to the platform for collectible cards and rare pens. That makes his interest easier to understand, even if the board’s answer was immediate and dismissive.
The tension runs deeper than one rejected offer. Cohen has been criticizing eBay’s corporate governance and board makeup, but GameStop’s own five-member board includes Cohen, two other former Chewy executives and the first institutional investor of Chewy. GameStop’s lead independent director also chairs the compensation committee and the governance committee, and that same director previously worked at Chewy.
So the fight is no longer just about price. Cohen has said he wants to appeal directly to eBay shareholders, which means the next phase is likely to test whether investors see his $55 billion pitch as a serious challenge or a public shot across the bow. eBay’s rejection made its view clear; the question now is whether shareholders will agree.
