eBay rejects GameStop’s acquisition offer

Online marketplace eBay has publicly rejected an acquisition offer from GameStop’s CEO that would have seen the retailer attempt to purchase the company. “We have concluded that your proposal is neither credible nor attractive,” said Paul Pressler, eBay’s chairman of its board of directors, in a formal response.

Nine days prior, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen submitted a proposal to acquire all of eBay, which made about as much in sales during its most recent fiscal quarter as the retail chain did in its most recent full fiscal year. Furthermore, eBay’s market value is about four times larger than that of GameStop.

In a televised interview with CNBC the morning of May 4, Cohen said that “eBay could be making a lot more money.” He also said that “there’s going to be some leverage on the balance sheet in order to make an acquisition possible.” However, he did not specify how GameStop would account for its lack of required funds to complete the acquisition.

Instead, he said eBay has “a lot of fat to cut.” He claimed, without providing evidence or a strategy, that eBay could double its earnings “in a short period of time.” GameStop is No. 81 in the Top 2000 Database (down from No. 55 last year). That database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual, global ecommerce sales.

GameStop’s online sales decreased 26% year over year in 2025. Meanwhile, eBay ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

EBay reported 17% revenue growth and 14% gross merchandise value (GMV) growth year over year in its fiscal Q1 2026. Its GMV reached $22. 2 billion. News GameStop proposes acquisition for eBay without clarifying funding Abbas Haleem | May 4, 2026