Baseball cards, video games, an old iPhone and a painting of a dog are among the items for sale on the eBay profile of GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen. Earlier this week, Cohen made an unsolicited $56 billion offer to acquire eBay. He now appears to be selling personal belongings on the same platform to fund the takeover. The approach attracts attention. It also leaves Wall Street and some GameStop investors struggling to understand exactly what it is doing.
Cohen did not clearly explain how he would finance the proposed deal. during Interview with CNBC After the offer was announced, he repeatedly sidestepped questions about the financing, saying such details “are on our website” while criticizing the network for calling for the “demise of GameStop.” The interview was later described as… amazing, strange and Combat.
The confusion stems mainly from the size of the proposal. GameStop has a market cap of roughly $11 billion, about $9 billion in cash, and a $20 billion financing letter from TD Bank. eBay is currently valued at approximately $47 billion. Cohen has said he wants to merge eBay with GameStop and install himself as CEO. He says the combined company could cut $2 billion in annual expenses.
Meanwhile, Cohen has managed to control the conversation. “The more attention you’ll get, the more eyeballs you’ll get — and people will become aware of, hey, maybe I should invest in this guy’s business,” Steve Soltis, a lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, told the Observer. “He’s a very smart guy.”
This dynamic fits with Cohen’s track record. He rose to prominence during the meme stock boom in 2020 after investing in GameStop, joining its board in 2021 and becoming CEO in 2023. He previously founded Chewy and sold it to PetSmart for $3.35 billion in 2017, and has held activist positions at companies like Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Soltis, who has worked in executive communications for companies such as Coca-Cola and UPS, sees the current moment as intentional. “You’re telling me he’s going to go to CNBC, and he doesn’t really understand the logistics and technical aspects of the deal? I personally don’t buy it,” he said. “He understands meme stocks perhaps better than anyone else, and how to generate a groundswell of support from people who might otherwise be dissidents.”
Cohen has leaned into this playbook. Shortly after the interview, he announced that he would be “Sell things on eBay to pay for eBay“, directing his followers on X to his eBay account. eBay briefly suspended his account yesterday (March 7). But it’s active again today with 35 listings. A pair of GameStop store signs She has already drawn a bid of $21,100.
“He knows this is going to spread through social media,” Soltis said. “I think he’s just doing it to be weird and put himself in a more rebellious position than he already is.”
Investors are less amused. GameStop shares fell 4 percent this week. Michael Burry, one of the company’s most closely watched shareholders, said he was leaving his position and warned that the deal could take years to settle. “Never confuse religion with creativity“, Perry wrote in a May 4 Substack post.
At least Cohen’s eBay buyers appear to be satisfied. His account, created in 2019, has a 100 percent positive rating. Purchases come with free shipping and a copy of his proposal letter to eBay.
