eBay’s board took a look at GameStop’s $55.5 billion offer to buy the company and had one message for CEO Ryan Cohen: game over.
Earlier this month Cohen made an ambitious play for a company nearly four times GameStop’s size, with vague details about how he’d fund the deal. Then came a bizarre twist: he started selling GameStop merchandise on eBay—including a branded cap for $4,950 and a mug for $3,151—apparently to help fund the purchase of eBay itself.
On Tuesday, eBay board chairman Paul Pressler formally rejected the proposal, calling it “neither credible nor attractive” in a letter to Cohen. The board cited uncertainty about funding, concerns about GameStop’s governance and executive incentives, and confidence in eBay’s standalone prospects.
GameStop shares fell 4.5 percent in premarket trading following the news. The rejection comes as eBay has been reinventing itself against competition from Amazon, Walmart, Shein and Facebook Marketplace. The company’s share price is up 24 percent this year.
eBay’s board took a look at GameStop’s $55.5 billion offer to buy the company and had one message for CEO Ryan Cohen: game over.
Earlier this month Cohen made an ambitious play for a company nearly four times GameStop’s size, with vague details about how he’d fund the deal. Then came a bizarre twist: he started selling GameStop merchandise on eBay—including a branded cap for $4,950 and a mug for $3,151—apparently to help fund the purchase of eBay itself.
On Tuesday, eBay board chairman Paul Pressler formally rejected the proposal, calling it “neither credible nor attractive” in a letter to Cohen. The board cited uncertainty about funding, concerns about GameStop’s governance and executive incentives, and confidence in eBay’s standalone prospects.
GameStop shares fell 4.5 percent in premarket trading following the news. The rejection comes as eBay has been reinventing itself against competition from Amazon, Walmart, Shein and Facebook Marketplace. The company’s share price is up 24 percent this year.
