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GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

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Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#321

Post by elzbardico »

fasteo wrote: post #228
pjc50 wrote: post #2

Important background: https://investor.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-details/202... CEO gets paid "only if GameStop achieves a market capitalization of $20 billion." Buying a $55bn company would certainly achieve that quickly. I'm not sure how they'd manage that (buy with what? Memes?), other than the should-be-illegal process of putting debt on the acquired company's balance sheet.

>>> should-be-illegal process of putting debt on the acquired company's balance sheet This is a basically a leveraged buyout (LBO). All private equity works this way. Yes, it should be illegal, or at least heavily limited. I highly recommend this book: "Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America"

This book got a unfortunate title. Private Equity can be a completely legitimate activity. What it needs is some regulation on some underhanded financial tatics it uses, such as LBO.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#322

Post by wmoxam »

dingaling wrote: post #304
shmatt wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eBay is dying, new competitors are being created constantly, and the big ones like Poshmark are getting more North American buyers and sellers. eBay has barely grown since their post covid slump Maybe eBay survives as an international site but even at that point, with $20B in debt this will just follow the regular PE playbook of shutting down after many layoffs and pivots The entire concept of, "I have $1,000 in the…

> Maybe eBay survives as an international site I don't really know what alternative there is to eBay as an 'everything shop'. I can get specific screws there, or diff fluid, or a customised motorhome name sticker, or an old baseball cap for an airshow I attended in 2008. And if I bought the wrong diff fluid I can sell it. The main value over Amazon, though, is that the search works.

Facebook marketplace is an everything shop, though a bit more local in nature. Also, it's much easier for small businesses that ship to have an online store thanks to Shopify, etc.

The last few times I've used EBay is to get parts for old garden tractors, and even for that I've found cheaper options with small retailers that specialize in that stuff. Most ebay shipping pushes the cost up too much, and with the small retailers usually I can get a bunch of things I need at the same shipping price.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#323

Post by coredog64 »

metalliqaz wrote: post #264
dgellow wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the point of eBay was to get rid of that middleman. Wouldn’t that be something eBay would have done at some point if they wanted to own a pawnshop? Not saying that cannot work but that doesn’t sound like a genius idea

Yes, exactly. In fact there were some ebay "helper" companies that made a go of it in the early 2000's. They went out of business because it doesn't add enough value. USPS created Media Mail and flat rate boxes, and UPS stores are found in nearly every community. They handle the hard part (shipping) well enough. The only thing I can think of is Gamestop positioning to become a clearing house for fan swag or gaming it…

There's one of these near me in a shopping center with terminally low rents. I think the additional value add for these places is that a) they can help you price the item to move and b) they can wade through eBay support if things go wrong.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#324

Post by ryandrake »

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #274
pjc50 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and then they list it on eBay and turn a bit of a profit with a local pickup option available Sort of wondering why nobody did this already. I know that the better charity shops do this with rare and unusual books/records. The UK equivalent CeX has an online offering through webuy.com, which appears to be a Chinese owned multinational.

This is called consignment and is an industry unto itself, usually for antiques since you need a lot of space. You give them your goods and they sell them. You get a cut if they actually sell. I'm surprised nobody has really mentioned this in the thread. Does anybody remember the "trade in anything" day GameStop just had? https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/12/08/gamestop-tra... Obviously they're going to need…

Consignment doesn't offer the seller a very good monetary deal, though. They're essentially a junk hauler that might pay you a few bucks. We all have that pile of old computer components that we could probably sell piece by piece for $400 on eBay, $200 on Craigslist/FB Marketplace, $100 at a yard sale, and maybe if you're lucky a consignment place will give you a $40 for it all.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#325

Post by Ajedi32 »

TSiege wrote: post #320
Ajedi32 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question I'm asking is: what problem? If a bank takes a risk and that risk doesn't pay off how exactly is that society's problem? And yes, I do think laws should be based on consistent principles. I'm surprised you consider that a controversial point...

The problem is that people can take loans without financial liability (not how home purchases work) and drive profitable businesses (which are good for the economy) into the ground (bad for the economy and society). No one is worried about the bank making the loan in this situation. They are concerned that PE is buying up large parts of the economy using debt they aren't responsible for, which makes them irresponsibl…

> which makes them irresponsible owners because they do not face consequences when the moves fail

Again, isn't that entirely the bank's problem? They're responsible for the debt if the company can't pay it, right? I agree on the surface this seems like a bad deal for the bank, but what makes you think you know better than the bank so much so that they shouldn't even be allowed to take that risk?

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#326

Post by cruffle_duffle »

ryandrake wrote: post #324
knowaveragejoe wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is called consignment and is an industry unto itself, usually for antiques since you need a lot of space. You give them your goods and they sell them. You get a cut if they actually sell. I'm surprised nobody has really mentioned this in the thread. Does anybody remember the "trade in anything" day GameStop just had? https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/12/08/gamestop-tra... Obviously they're going to need…

Consignment doesn't offer the seller a very good monetary deal, though. They're essentially a junk hauler that might pay you a few bucks. We all have that pile of old computer components that we could probably sell piece by piece for $400 on eBay, $200 on Craigslist/FB Marketplace, $100 at a yard sale, and maybe if you're lucky a consignment place will give you a $40 for it all.

I mean $40 if you are lucky or goodwill. You could get more selling it “proper” but the transaction cost of it is super not worth it (for me). When I want something out of my house, I want it out of my fucking house. Listing it on Craigslist means I have to babysit it, handle questions, but worse… the fucking thing is still in my house!. And I was over that, whatever the fuck it was, like… a week ago. Now it’s just sitting there in my life cluttering it up. Better take to the garbage or goodwill. Then it’s gone!

At least with a consignment shop I will hopefully get something out of the deal.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#328

Post by robotresearcher »

weard_beard wrote: post #220
sheepscreek wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking a $20b loan from TD Bank + sitting on $9b CASH + GameStop stock for the rest. They’ve made an interesting proposal around using 1600 GameStop locations for fulfilment. Smart if they can make it work. Update: Numbers still don’t add to $55b - I think there’s a $14b shortfall. Not sure about how they are planning to fund that.

GameStop has a standing approved agreement to issue up to a billion new shares. If you read the offer you will see it is 50% financed by GameStop stock. They threw him a hardball today in his cnbc interview on this topic. $GME stock value would plummet short term, but the combined company would revalue much higher. Current Gamestop shareholders would be diluted. They would own, proportionally, a much small slice of t…

If his choice is between not getting paid due to not meeting targets, and getting paid in diluted stock, then it’s straightforward enough.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#329

Post by taeric »

HillRat wrote: post #308
taeric wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it is functionally the same as home loans? Would you be proposing a carve out that buying a house or car is ok this way, but nothing else?

Say you take out a mortgage, then rent the house to a series of meth dealers to extract the rent while devaluing the property, and then default: you're still personally on the hook for any post-foreclosure deficiency judgment. One issue with LBOs is that, after extracting cash and fees, PE funds have various ways to extinguish liabilities that individuals don't, both by shielding the PE fund from debts and the use of…

I mean, if I'm allowed to just make up silly hypotheticals, I can easily justify anything.

Say I raise money for a friend to buy a house and they proceed to rent it out to meth dealers. The friend is the one on the hook for the loans, of course; but would I not be on the hook for at least a reputation hit such that I can't do that again? Or do we think folks can get away with that sort of poor judgement forever?

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