GameStop is making one of its boldest moves yet: the retailer has confirmed in a press release that it has submitted a non-binding takeover bid for ebay, one of the world’s largest online marketplaces.
According to the offer, GameStop wants to buy ebay outright for $125 per share, valuing the deal at roughly $55.5 billion. With ebay shares recently trading around $104.07, the proposal represents about a 20.1 percent premium, a sizable bump designed to win over shareholders and push negotiations forward.
The potential acquisition would be massive compared with GameStop’s current scale. GameStop reported 2025 turnover of $3.63 billion and a profit of $232 million. The price tag for ebay is also striking when viewed through a revenue lens, coming in at around 15 times ebay’s 2025 turnover. Still, GameStop argues that the combination could unlock meaningful synergies that help justify the cost.
To finance the ebay purchase, GameStop plans a mixed approach. Roughly half of the deal value would be funded through GameStop shares. The remaining portion would come from a combination of $9.4 billion in liquid assets on GameStop’s balance sheet and $20 billion in debt expected to be provided by TD Securities.
GameStop is also betting heavily on cost-cutting and operational consolidation after the takeover. The company projects up to $2 billion in savings within the first twelve months by merging overlapping marketing, development, and administrative functions. If those reductions materialize, they could quickly become a central pillar of the investment case for the merger.
Beyond cost savings, GameStop believes ebay could gain a practical advantage from GameStop’s physical footprint. With around 1,600 GameStop stores in the United States alone, the combined company could potentially leverage a much broader retail and logistics network, adding more real-world touchpoints that could support faster fulfillment, local drop-off options, customer service hubs, or other hybrid online-offline commerce strategies.
Leadership is expected to remain firmly in GameStop’s hands. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen would lead the merged company under the current plan.
The timing is notable for GameStop. The company returned to profitability in the 2025 financial year, but it has also been reshaping its retail presence, including closing all stores in Germany and shuttering more than 400 locations across the United States. This ebay bid signals a strategy shift that looks less like a traditional store-first retail play and more like a push toward scale in online commerce.
For now, the proposal is non-binding, meaning it’s an opening move rather than a final agreement. But if talks advance, this could become one of the most talked-about retail and e-commerce deals in years, with major implications for online marketplaces, physical retail networks, and how shoppers buy and sell across both worlds.
