Answering 5 burning questions about GameStop's gutsy eBay deal

• GameStop wants to buy eBay, and CEO Ryan Cohen has lofty ambitions of challenging Amazon.
• Wall Street analysts are skeptical of how GameStop will finance the acquisition.
• That's just one of five main questions unpacked below.

When I first saw the news on Sunday that GameStop had made a $56 billion offer for eBay, I had to make sure I was reading it right.

GameStop, which had roughly one-quarter the market value of eBay as of last week, was the buyer? Surely it had to be a typo.

Nope, it was real. And in retrospect, I shouldn't have doubted it. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen did say early this year that he was planning a splashy acquisition.

"It's ultimately either going to be genius or totally, totally foolish," he told the WSJ back in January.

So here we are, with the plucky CEO of a company best known for being a meme taking a big swing on a mega-acquisition. If you're like me, you have a lot of questions. So let's get right into it with perhaps the biggest one:

How the heck is GameStop going to pay for it?

Ah yes, the critical $56 billion question. After all, GameStop only has $9 billion in cash, and another $4 billion in debt. There's also the $20 billion in debt financing Cohen says he's secured from TD Bank.

Morgan Stanley says the rest of the financing could come from a stock-for-stock merger, although it also sees the scenario as unlikely. Another option could be an LBO, but MS points out that it would have to be the biggest in history.

The initial WSJ report also mentioned potential outside investors, such as Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds.

Cohen didn't help matters much with a CNBC appearance on Monday where he awkwardly fielded inquiries about the financing gap. It remains the biggest question around the deal.

What are the synergies?

The clearest overlap between eBay and GameStop is in the collectibles and trading cards space. Under Cohen, GameStop has pivoted more towards the products to offset game-buying increasingly moving online. eBay has also seen recent success facilitating collectible transactions.

What if eBay isn't into it?

Cohen has said he's prepared to run a proxy battle and take his proposal directly to shareholders if eBay turns down his offer.

eBay has undergone a transformation of its own in recent years, helping catalyze a roughly 140% gain since the start of 2024 — more than double the Nasdaq 100. It's possible shareholders will be reluctant to shake up a good thing.

What do investors think so far?

eBay shareholders seem excited, with the stock up 7% to roughly $111 at intraday highs on Monday. But that's still 11% below the $125-per-share offer price from GameStop, indicating trader skepticism in a deal closing.

GameStop investors are, unsurprisingly, not thrilled, considering the significant share-price dilution that could occur under a deal. The stock fell as much as 11%, its biggest intraday loss since June 2025.

What about analysts?

Morgan Stanley said that "without more details on proposed financing, we think the market [will] be skeptical of a potential deal's feasibility."

BMO Capital Markets — which maintained its street-high price target of $130 — said the deal makes a lot of sense from GameStop's perspective, but offers minimal operational synergies for eBay.

Bernstein analysts kept it simplest of all: "Why disrupt things? The turnaround is working."