GameStop offers to acquire eBay for nearly $56 billion in a takeover bid led by CEO Ryan Cohen

GameStop, with a market cap of about $11 billion, offered to acquire eBay for nearly $56 billion over the weekend. The offer is $125 per share in a 50–50 cash-and-stock deal, representing about a 20% premium over eBay's Friday share price close. Ryan Cohen secured a $20 billion debt financing commitment from TD Securities to help fund the cash portion.

Ryan Cohen is proposing himself as the new CEO of the combined company. He has already quietly acquired a 5% stake in eBay (involving some derivatives alongside shares), following the same playbook he used to gain control of GameStop a couple of years ago by building up a stake and pushing for board seats.

Cohen's compensation package as GameStop CEO is tied to the company's market cap reaching $100 billion rather than an operating metric. If successful, the eBay acquisition would be a much larger-scale version of his GameStop takeover, requiring outside financing and board cooperation that his previous move did not demand.