# GameStop Just Bid $56 Billion to Swallow eBay — Threatens Hostile Takeover **URL:** \ **Category:** News & Articles\ **Tags:** business, earn-money, tips-tricks, news, trading\ **Created:** [July 7, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/gamestop-just-bid-56-billion-to-swallow-ebay-threatens-hostile-takeover/323699 "2026-07-07T16:40:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheStrength](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/thestrength/32/46753_2.png) [@TheStrength](https://onehack.st/u/TheStrength)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/gamestop-just-bid-56-billion-to-swallow-ebay-threatens-hostile-takeover/323699/1 "2026-07-07T16:40:32Z")
# 🎮 GameStop Just Threw a $56 Billion Punch at eBay — And Might Go Hostile If They Say No _The meme-stock kings from Reddit want to own the biggest garage sale on the internet. And bro, they’re not asking nicely._ **$56 BILLION cash-and-stock bid • $125 per eBay share • $20B loan lined up from TD Securities • GameStop already secretly owns 5% of eBay** So GameStop — yeah, that GameStop, the dusty mall store your cousin trades old games at — just told eBay “sell yourself to us or we take you by force.” Full story on [Fortune](https://fortune.com/2026/05/04/ebay-gamestop-offer-56-billion/), [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/04/business/gamestop-buys-ebay-intl), and [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2026/05/05/nx-s1-5810499/gamestop-makes-unsolicited-bid-to-acquire-online-auction-giant-ebay-for-56b). Their own press release is [right here](https://investor.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-details/2026/GameStop-Proposes-to-Acquire-eBay-at-125-00-Per-Share/). ![GameStop store](https://media.giphy.com/media/fYShjUkJAXW1YO6cNA/giphy.gif) > **🧩 Dumb Mode Dictionary** > > | Word they use | What it actually means | > | --- | --- | > | Hostile bid | “We’ll buy your company even if you say no, by paying off your shareholders directly” | > | Unsolicited proposal | eBay didn’t ask to be bought. GameStop just showed up with a bag | > | $125 per share | The price GameStop offers for each little slice of eBay ownership | > | Cash-and-stock | Part real money, part “here, have some GameStop shares instead” | > | 5% stake | GameStop quietly already owns 1 in every 20 pieces of eBay | > | Ryan Cohen | GameStop’s boss. The [Reddit meme-stock guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Cohen). Loves a fight | > **📖 Wait, how did a mall game store afford this?** > > Quick catch-up. Back in 2021, a bunch of regular people on Reddit ([r/wallstreetbets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop_short_squeeze)) pumped GameStop’s stock to the moon to mess with hedge funds. GameStop used all that hype to raise a mountain of cash — we’re talking billions just sitting in the bank. > > - They stopped being a store and became a company with a war chest > - Ryan Cohen (the founder of [Chewy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewy_(company))) took over and wanted a real business, not a dying mall > - Now that pile of cash is the ammo for buying eBay > - Plot twist: they’d been buying eBay stock on the low for months. Sneaky. > **💰 The receipts (what's actually on the table)** > > | Thing | Number | > | --- | --- | > | Total offer | ~$56 billion | > | Price per eBay share | $125.00 | > | Loan lined up | $20B from [TD Securities](https://www.td.com/ca/en/investing/td-securities) | > | GameStop’s current eBay stake | ~5% | > | eBay’s answer so far | “We’ll… carefully review it” (corporate for _uhhh_) | > | Backup plan if eBay says no | Go hostile. Take it anyway. | > > The pitch? Smash GameStop + eBay together and build something big enough to actually scare Amazon. Ambitious? Absolutely. Delulu? The timeline will decide. > **🗣️ What the timeline's saying** > > - **Wall Street:** “Cool story, but _why?_” — [Fortune’s whole article](https://fortune.com/2026/05/04/ebay-gamestop-offer-56-billion/) is basically one big raised eyebrow > - **Reddit apes:** Losing their minds. Their little store is trying to eat a giant > - **eBay sellers:** Nervous. New owner = new rules = new fees, maybe > - **The suits at eBay:** Sweating, because a hostile bid means Cohen can go straight to shareholders and skip the boardroom entirely > > I mean, a store that sells used copies of Madden trying to buy the internet’s flea market? You can’t write this stuff. #### Cool. A Game Store Wants the World’s Flea Market… Now What the Hell Do We Do? (⊙\_⊙) ![packing shipping boxes](https://media.giphy.com/media/mDIQaHAhD33wlOz0DR/giphy.gif) Here’s the thing nobody’s telling you: when two giant marketplaces are about to smash together, the ground shakes for the little seller. And shaky ground is where the money hides. Let’s dig. > **🕳️ The Pre-Merger Price-Gap Snipe** > > When a marketplace gets bought, its fees and rules always change — and _before_ they do, there’s a window where old prices still work. Collectible game gear is priced totally different on eBay vs. GameStop’s trade-in system right now. That gap is free money. > > 🧠 _Example:_ A 24-year-old in the Philippines watches GameStop’s [trade-in values](https://www.gamestop.com/trade-in), buys underpriced retro consoles there or at local shops, then flips them on [eBay](https://www.ebay.com) to global collectors. Clears $40–90 per unit, moves 15 a week. > > > 📈 **Timeline:** First flips in 7–10 days. Works until the merger actually closes and both platforms sync their pricing (6–12 months out). Move now. > **📦 The Boring-Box Picks-and-Shovels Play** > > Everyone’s watching the $56B headline. Meanwhile every single one of eBay’s 130M+ buyers needs _shipping supplies_ — boxes, bubble wrap, labels, poly mailers. You don’t need to win the merger. You just sell the shovels. > > 🧠 _Example:_ A 22-year-old in Nigeria buys bulk mailers and thermal label rolls wholesale from [Alibaba](https://www.alibaba.com), splits them into “eBay starter seller kits,” and sells locally + on [Jiji](https://jiji.ng) to the wave of new resellers. $6 cost, $18 sale, 200 kits a month. > > > 📈 **Timeline:** Profit in week one. Steady as long as reselling stays hot — realistically a solid 1–2 year runway before local competition catches on. > **📡 The Ryan Cohen Shadow Tracker** > > Cohen has to file public paperwork every time GameStop buys more shares — it’s the law ([SEC 13D filings](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001065088/000119312526202465/ck0000000000-ex99_1.pdf)). Those filings are free and public. Package “what Cohen just bought” into a fast alert and niche traders will pay to not miss it. > > 🧠 _Example:_ A finance student in India sets a free [SEC EDGAR](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar) alert on GameStop’s filings, summarizes each move in plain English, and runs a paid Telegram channel for 300 members at $5/mo. That’s $1,500/mo off public documents. > > > 📈 **Timeline:** First subs in 2–3 weeks once you post a few free wins. Fades when the deal resolves and the drama dies (~6 months). > **🎣 The Collectible-Panic Buyout** > > Here’s the psychology: when sellers hear “new owner, higher fees coming,” a chunk of them panic-dump inventory cheap to cash out before rules change. That panic is your discount rack. Scoop the good stuff, hold, resell after the noise settles. > > 🧠 _Example:_ A 26-year-old in Brazil scans eBay’s “Buy It Now” listings for sellers slashing prices on graded trading cards and sealed games, buys the underpriced ones, waits 60 days, relists at market rate on [Mercari](https://www.mercari.com) or eBay. Average flip: 35% up. > > > 📈 **Timeline:** Buy immediately during the uncertainty window. Sell 1–3 months later. The panic discount vanishes once eBay confirms whatever it’s doing. > **🪟 The New-Vocabulary Cheat Sheet Land Grab** > > Every big merger spawns a pile of confused people Googling “does my eBay account change” and “GameStop eBay seller fees.” Right now almost nobody has written the clear answer. Be the first plain-English explainer and you own that search traffic for months. > > 🧠 _Example:_ A 23-year-old in Pakistan builds one clean free page answering every “eBay + GameStop merger” question, ranks it on Google before the big blogs wake up, and monetizes with affiliate links to shipping tools and [reseller software](https://www.zikanalytics.com). 8,000 visitors/mo, ~$400 in affiliate cuts. > > > 📈 **Timeline:** Traffic builds over 3–4 weeks. Peaks around the deal news cycle. Milk it for 6–9 months before big sites bury you. > **🛠️ Follow-Up Actions** > > | Move | First step today | > | --- | --- | > | Flip the price gap | Compare [GameStop trade-in](https://www.gamestop.com/trade-in) vs [eBay](https://www.ebay.com) on 5 retro items | > | Sell shovels | Price bulk mailers on [Alibaba](https://www.alibaba.com) | > | Track Cohen | Set a free alert on [SEC EDGAR](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar) | > | Catch panic-dumps | Filter eBay for price-drop collectibles | > | Own the search | Draft the plain-English merger FAQ page | **⚡ Quick Hits** | You want to… | Do this | | --- | --- | | 🎮 Understand the deal | Read the [official GameStop offer](https://investor.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-details/2026/GameStop-Proposes-to-Acquire-eBay-at-125-00-Per-Share/) | | 📰 Get the skeptic’s take | [Fortune’s breakdown](https://fortune.com/2026/05/04/ebay-gamestop-offer-56-billion/) | | 📄 See the real filings | [SEC 13D document](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001065088/000119312526202465/ck0000000000-ex99_1.pdf) | | 💸 Start flipping | Open a free [eBay seller account](https://www.ebay.com/sl/sell) | | 🧠 Learn the backstory | [The GameStop short squeeze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop_short_squeeze) | _A store that sells used Xbox games wants to own the internet’s biggest yard sale — and if you’re paying attention, the chaos pays better than any share does._