GameStop is pursuing an approximately $56 billion takeover of eBay, seeing it as a vehicle to compete with online retail giant Amazon.
WASHINGTON — GameStop is trying to buy eBay, and it put in a big bid to try and make it happen.
The national gaming retailer has offered $125 per share in cash and stock. The equity value of the proposed deal is $55.5 billion on paper.
The e-commerce site confirmed the bid Monday, but said the company hasn’t had any talks with GameStop or received any inquiries from them before receiving the proposal.
GameStop’s CEO described the plan as an effort to cut costs and combine eBay’s online operation with the brick-and-mortar stores to allow it to compete with online retail giants, like Amazon, Walmart, and others.
As of Friday, GameStop was worth about $11.9 billion, whereas eBay’s value was nearly four times that amount at roughly $46.2 billion.
GameStop said it started accumulating shares in eBay beginning in February and currently has a 5% stake.
The company is looking to lower costs at eBay, saying that the online seller spent $2.4 billion on sales and marketing in fiscal 2025 while only adding 1 million net active buyers. GameStop says it will achieve $2 billion in annualized cost cuts within a year of the proposed transaction’s closing.
GameStop became one of the most well-known meme stocks to create a frenzy among retail traders on Wall Street. The company’s shares took off in 2021 after a band of smaller-pocketed investors helped boost its stock by 1,000% in two weeks.
The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.