eBay Board Rejects GameStop’s $56 Billion Hostile Takeover Bid as “Not Credible or Attractive”

On May 12, 2026, eBay officially slammed the door on Ryan Cohen’s aggressive $56 billion takeover attempt — the boldest move yet from the meme-stock legend and GameStop chairman.

In a sharply worded letter to Cohen, eBay Chairman Paul Pressler called the unsolicited offer “neither credible nor attractive.”

The board cited three major red flags:

Uncertainty around the financing structure;
Significant operational and integration risks;
Concerns about GameStop’s corporate governance track record.

The rejection came just days after Cohen publicly proposed paying $125 per share for eBay — a roughly 20% premium to the recent market price.

The deal was structured as 50% cash and 50% GameStop stock, with Cohen promising to unlock $2 billion in annual cost savings within the first year.

Why Cohen Wanted eBay So Badly

eBay Board Rejects GameStop’s Billion Hostile Takeover Bid as “Not Credible or Attractive” For Ryan Cohen, acquiring eBay wasn’t just about expanding GameStop’s footprint — it was the fastest possible path to his ultimate payday.

Under his January compensation package, Cohen stands to receive options on more than 171 million GameStop shares if he manages to push the company’s market capitalization to $100 billion — a 10× increase from its current ~$10 billion valuation.

eBay, with $80 billion in annual platform volume and $11.6 billion in revenue, would have instantly supercharged GameStop’s scale. Cohen had planned to finance a large chunk of the deal with $20 billion in debt, betting that the combined company could handle the leverage while generating massive synergies.

In short: buy eBay → 10× the market cap → Cohen becomes extremely rich. Simple on paper. Not so simple in practice.

What Happens Next?

eBay Board Rejects GameStop’s Billion Hostile Takeover Bid as “Not Credible or Attractive” With the board’s firm rejection, Cohen’s most immediate option is a **proxy fight** — attempting to replace members of eBay’s board at the next annual meeting. That process is long, expensive, and far from guaranteed to succeed. It could easily drag on for more than a year.

For now, the hostile takeover appears dead on arrival.

eBay’s message was crystal clear: they’re not interested in becoming the latest chapter in the GameStop saga.

Full story:
Bloomberg — eBay Rejects GameStop’s $56 Billion Takeover

GameStop’s Ryan Cohen swung for the fences. eBay didn’t even flinch.

For now, the meme remains just that — a meme.