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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

#431

Post by FireBeyond »

stevefan1999 wrote: post #196
nashashmi wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a legal term for this kind of restructuring of debt?

I vibe asked it on Kagi Assistant and it said the closet relevant result is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_two-step_bankruptcy To me it seems more like leveraged buyouts + debt restructuring all at once. I rather coin this term "debt offloading", which could also cover the cases with Enron for the tactics they used about 25 years ago

As soon as you mention Texas Two-step, you'll get a chorus of people who argue that it's a good thing, that it's really the defendants doing the plaintiffs a favor and making it easier and cheaper to sue them and the fact that each company that has done this has snuck out of between 90 and 99% of its obligations and washed their hands of them is a complete coincidence and that just wait, you'll see, the next time a company does it (using the same law firm that has handled all these) they'll really, truly, cover all of their obligations, perhaps even more, and at less cost and effort to their beleaguered plaintiffs.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#432

Post by hnav »

crazygringo wrote: post #370
giancarlostoro wrote: post #240

The original shorting of GameStop back in 2021 gave them a bit of a boost back into the green. While people were doing the GME to the moon, GameStop made more shares to sell, and paid off a bit of its debts, I think it made about a billion dollars in profit, they're still struggling, but it helped prolong their life. A friend of mine also pointed out and this made it click for me that it makes 100% sense, GameStop is…

> GameStop is setup as a legal pawnshop in every state. So a pawnshop buying out eBay makes insane sense. It doesn't though. eBay could easily set itself up as a legal pawnshop in every state if it wanted to. It doesn't because there's no advantage to doing so. There are already third-party sellers in many areas who will take your physical merchandise and sell it on eBay in exchange for a cut. eBay doesn't need to en…

There's friction though, if the process is under one roof end-to-end, ebay can take 30-40% (15-20% today) of every transaction by just letting you dump your old stuff. Might even eat FB marketplace and CL.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#433

Post by FireBeyond »

nashashmi wrote: post #171
stevefan1999 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you mean...marrying someone but transfer all the personal debt to the others, then divorcing so that I have no responsibility whatsoever? Not even an obligation to settle for the debt just like disappeared through an expired relationship?

Is there a legal term for this kind of restructuring of debt?

In personal terms there is the "deathbed divorce", a uniquely American construct where couples, often elderly, get divorced while one is in hospital or hospice in an attempt to not saddle their soon to be widowed partner with six digits of medical debt.

In another uniquely American construct, that won't stop hospitals calling up all their relatives either implying that they are now responsible for those debts, or that it would be a mark of respect and honor if, even not, the relative would be willing to settle them anyway.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#434

Post by FireBeyond »

mapt wrote: post #56
cyanydeez wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the only benefit I can see is some kind of eBay pick up and verification scheme where sellers use the gamestop locations to send their products and buyers go theere to pick it up. That would basically create a "this is garbage feedback" that could cleanup some of ebay's long standing problems in trust.

While this seems like the perfect synergy with a company that has too many branches and not enough business, those branches are also tiny. I'd bet employees are not enthusiastic about becoming UPS. Becoming Radio Shack / Microcenter, as far as 3D Printing and DIY electronics, seems like it intersects with their target audience more, but they're also probably pretty short on space for that.

> I'd bet employees are not enthusiastic about becoming UPS.

At the same time, most of the employees at my local UPS store have openly expressed a lack of enthusiasm about becoming Amazon returns employees.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#435

Post by delfinom »

hnav wrote: post #432
crazygringo wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GameStop is setup as a legal pawnshop in every state. So a pawnshop buying out eBay makes insane sense. It doesn't though. eBay could easily set itself up as a legal pawnshop in every state if it wanted to. It doesn't because there's no advantage to doing so. There are already third-party sellers in many areas who will take your physical merchandise and sell it on eBay in exchange for a cut. eBay doesn't need to en…

There's friction though, if the process is under one roof end-to-end, ebay can take 30-40% (15-20% today) of every transaction by just letting you dump your old stuff. Might even eat FB marketplace and CL.

People trying to sell their used junk aren't going to accept a 30-40% cut. It's why they aren't using eBay these days in the first place.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#436

Post by oneneptune »

FireBeyond wrote: post #424
BizarroLand wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eBay has also started doing strongarm middleman things as well. If you list an item, it strongly "suggests" a price. Sounds innocuous, right? However, when every seller knows they would be stupid to list a product for less than the suggested price, that means that eBay is enacting a collusion process on their sellers to regulate prices for products sold on their platform. I don't think this is illegal in any way, but…

Yeah, I got fucked over by eBay and will never sell on there again. eBay let someone scam me out of $700. I sold a Mavic 2 Pro drone with 5 batteries. The whole process was a mess. Scammer initially complained that it didn't come with a CrystalSky tablet that was in one picture (that was only added AFTER after he had bid already and asked to see Flight Logs, and was explicitly disclaimed as not being a part of the pa…

anecdotally; this is why I now use fb marketplace exclusively to sell stuff. cash only. meet in person; feel free to test / inspect stuff. All sales are final and are as-is.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#437

Post by [deleted] »

taeric wrote: post #346
TSiege wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A cosigner is different than what's happening in leveraged buy outs. A Cosigner is financially responsible if the debtor cannot pay back their portion of the loan. In a Leveraged buyout the purchaser does not take on financial liability for the debt, that is all placed on the company being purchased. This means that if the purchaser isn't even the cosigner in this scenario; the company being purchased is the sole ent…

Fair, but the nefarious scenarios people are talking about should at least be a major reputational hit for the people that did the fund raising. We are literally describing a ton of value getting destroyed. Someone is taking that hit.

[deleted]

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#438

Post by lotsofpulp »

wombatpm wrote: post #409
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…

Once you own the company you take out loans to pay a onetime dividend to you to pay off your purchase loans. Same thing perfectly legal

Who is going to lend you money to pay a one time dividend? (without putting up quality collateral such as real estate, which Gamestop does not have)

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#439

Post by hnav »

delfinom wrote: post #435
hnav wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's friction though, if the process is under one roof end-to-end, ebay can take 30-40% (15-20% today) of every transaction by just letting you dump your old stuff. Might even eat FB marketplace and CL.

People trying to sell their used junk aren't going to accept a 30-40% cut. It's why they aren't using eBay these days in the first place.

Not exactly, the biggest annoyance with eBay (in my experience) is dealing with shipping, disputes and returns. If I could recover even 50% of the value of unused items without dealing with the ridiculousness of p2p transactions (flakes, tire-kickers, scammers) I'd do it in a heartbeat.
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