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GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

bbc.co.uk

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Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#21
post #3

The Gamestop CEO is an interesting character, he grew Chewy and sold it, did a massive play on Apple stock during the pandemic and used that to buy a 9% stake in Gamestop over time, rode the hype to accumulate $9B while turning the company around and closing stores that weren't profitable and making it a money making budiness again. And now they already own 5% of eBay on top. Along the way he says some ridiculous Tru…

I look forward to today's Money Stuff!

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#22
post #7

GameStop doesn't have (even close to) $55.5B. Their offer from the letter is literally impossible: > Our offer is $125.00 per share, comprising 50% cash and 50% GameStop common stock Even if you magically included all existing GameStop stock in the offer, it still would not comprise 50% of $55.5B. EDIT: looks like it's not impossible and I misunderstood. It's a proposed change of leadership with a $25B injection of c…

Isn’t that just a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leveraged_buyout ?

Yup.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#25
A lot of the comments here seem to assume that a smaller public company can’t acquire a larger one, which just isn’t true.

A quick search for how leveraged acquisitions, stock-for-stock deals, financing commitments, or tender offers work would answer most of the objections.

Is it too much to ask the Hacker News commentariat to do one quick search before collectively declaring that something they don’t understand is impossible?

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#26
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t that debt knock down the market cap as much as the value Otherwise take out a $20b loan and put it in the bank. Assets increase $20b, job done.

Well, his argument is that he can remove inefficiencies in the combined company. GME is ~12B, EBAY is ~46B (58 total) with net income of 0.4B and 2B (2.4 total). If he boosts profit by 1.2B then it's nearly a 50% increase and probably going to result in a more valuable combined company despite the debt.

> Well, his argument is that he can remove inefficiencies in the combined company.

Sigh. The synergy argument, once again.

While historically most mergers don't work out particularly well, I'm absolutely sure this time will be different.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#27

A lot of the comments here seem to assume that a smaller public company can’t acquire a larger one, which just isn’t true. A quick search for how leveraged acquisitions, stock-for-stock deals, financing commitments, or tender offers work would answer most of the objections. Is it too much to ask the Hacker News commentariat to do one quick search before collectively declaring that something they don’t understand is i…

> Is it too much to ask the Hacker News commentariat to do one quick search

Are you new here?

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#28
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t that debt knock down the market cap as much as the value Otherwise take out a $20b loan and put it in the bank. Assets increase $20b, job done.

Well, his argument is that he can remove inefficiencies in the combined company. GME is ~12B, EBAY is ~46B (58 total) with net income of 0.4B and 2B (2.4 total). If he boosts profit by 1.2B then it's nearly a 50% increase and probably going to result in a more valuable combined company despite the debt.

He can argue that. But to me it seems more likely that culture and market demands are so different between the two companies that sharing any substantial resources would be to the detriment of at least one of the two halves. And more likely detrimental to both

The most beneficial thing is how even proposing this shifts peoples' perception of Gamestop from a beloved but struggling brick and mortar chain to a successful business

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#30
post #19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that goes into the '50% cash' part of the offer. With a 20B credit line and 7.5B cash from their own coffers (which they claim to have, so let's believe them on their word there), you cover the cash portion. The issue is the non-cash portion of the offer. They claim that the remaining 27.5B is covered by GameStop stock. But that's more than double the market cap of GameStop.

You understand that the gamestop stock would then be owning ebay, thus be worth Ebay + Gamestops Valuation?

Alright, my company MEME offers to buy Apple then for $1 plus 100% of MEME's stock, which is worth more than Apple then since it will own Apple.

If you word it like this it's just a hostile proposed change of leadership. Weird way to apply to become CEO of eBay, but sure.

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