GameStop wants to buy eBay for $55.5 billion
A major deal may take place in the USA. Game retailer GameStop has proposed to acquire eBay.
In a message to investors, GameStop management announced that they plan to pay $125 per eBay share. This totals $55.5 billion. If the company agrees, 50% of the sum will be paid in cash, and the remaining 50% in GameStop shares.
GameStop emphasized that this is a beneficial deal for eBay. The retailer is offering 36% more than the average eBay share price over the past 90 days. Additionally, if the purchase goes through, it will help eBay reduce costs by $2 billion over the year and offer its services in general. For instance, eBay could accept goods through GameStop stores.
In a separate interview with The Wall Street Journal, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen stated that he intends to turn eBay into a "full-fledged competitor to Amazon" valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. He is even prepared to resort to a hostile takeover if the company decides to decline the deal. He also wants to manage eBay's business personally moving forward.
Notably, GameStop itself is much less valuable than eBay. At the time of writing, its market capitalization is $11.9 billion.
eBay has not yet commented on GameStop's proposal.