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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

#531

Post by neaden »

prirun wrote: post #512
delfinom wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Checkout the insane amount of money Goodwill makes because of people getting rid of their "junk". There are 151 independent Goodwill organizations and all of them have a CEO, usually making 6 figures a year. https://paddockpost.com/2025/02/14/executive-compensation-at... If people are giving stuff to Goodwill with no compensation, I'd say they definitely would give eBay stuff for a 30-40% cut.

I don't think this is true, because people are often willing to spend a bit of extra time to do something good, like make a donation, but wouldn't be willing to take that same time to make $10.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#532

Post by ball_of_lint »

orlp wrote: post #13
Lionga wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have your ever heard of debt? They have a 20B line secured from TD.

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.

> which they claim to have, so let's believe them on their word there

So you're just outright accusing GameStop of fraud?

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1326380/0001... page 36 of their filing with the SEC lists the cash and marketable equities.

The non-cash (stock) portion of the offer needs to be valued against the resulting entity, which will own eBay. This will likely result in current eBay shareholders owning half or more of the resulting entity. (Though we don't know specific numbers yet). That's normal for a M&A where the smaller company is doing the buying.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#533

Post by sanswork »

ball_of_lint wrote: post #521
whamlastxmas wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The TLDR for people who don't intuitively understand why: existing shareholders are diluting their stake in the company by issuing new shares and getting money for those new shares. It's simply selling part of the company. Not profit.

You're conflating two things here. Yes, in 2021 GameStop did sell shares to raise cash in a dilutive way. [1] No, that is not being treated as profit or revenue. Gamestop had ~418 million in profit in 2025. [2] A fraction of that profit does come from interest income. Ignoring that (say to value the business separate from the cash) they still made ~110 million in profit. In my personal opinion (not financial advice)…

>A fraction of that profit does come from interest income.

More than half of it came from interest income.

Gamestop has been unable to grow revenue since Cohen took over, failed initiative after failed initiative. The only thing saving them is their meme stock nature and a legion of people willing to throw good money after bad allowing them to dilute shareholders to build a warchest.

They have increased profit by closing something like 50% of their stores but you can't grow a retail company by constantly closing stores at some point you have to find a way to make the stores more profitable and in 5 years with tons of different attempts they've not found that. Revenue is down almost 50% in the past 3 years.

Having a pile of cash doesn't matter if you have a leader who has no good ideas for how to invest it to improve returns for shareholders, all it does is allow you to die for longer.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#534

Post by Forgeties79 »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #500
turtlesdown11 wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps a simple analogy would work here - you made $86,000 in 2016, and had a $6,000 surplus that represents your profit. In 2020 you made $50,000 and spent $5,0000 of your savings to stay afloat. You shrink your lifestyle. Now in 2025, you make $35,000 a year, and have a $2,000 surplus. There are no prospects for more income and you expect to earn $32,500 next year, and maybe $30,000 the year after. Would you consi…

Again, facts, they have 9 billion in cash. How many companies have that on hand?

You seem to be making some of your statements as if they exist in a vacuum. The context is easily half the story.

For instance, do you know where that $9 billion in cash came from? It was not revenue I’ll tell you that much. Their revenue has been rapidly dropping, they’re shuttering stores, etc. They didn’t get that cash from successfully turning around operations.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#535

Post by sanswork »

iinnPP wrote: post #503
SwellJoe wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it give structural advantage to own a bunch of dead mall and strip mall brick and mortar stores that have been on the verge of bankruptcy for well over a decade?

GameStop in Canada owns stores in active malls and in standalone locations. Hard to see the store empty, even at 1030am on a weekday in November.

Gamestop in Canada isn't owned by Gamestop in the US. They were also historically unprofitable so people might be in the stores but they aren't buying enough.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#536

Post by archon810 »

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…

>assuming the CEO of GameStop doesn't mess it up completely.

This guy? https://x.com/i/status/2051303211668021478

Surely, he's a safe bet, no chance he will mess up this deal!

/s

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#537

Post by archon810 »

sheepscreek wrote: post #193
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.

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.

Here's the GME CEO attempting to explain the deal https://x.com/i/status/2051303211668021478.

And "Attempting" is doing the heavy lifting here.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#538

Post by qaq »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #489
qaq wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thinking back to 2021 it really shows we need some reform around brokers being able to land their customers stock to short sellers without any kind of consent. Also same shares should not be shortable multiple times ...

What? Most (all?) platforms let you opt out of this, and you receive payment when your shares are borrowed. And shares are fungible, how would it matter if one share is borrowed by 10 people or by none?

“What? Most (all?) platforms let you opt out of this.” Genuinely didn’t know that appreciate you pointing it out.

“Shares are fungible, how would it matter if one share is borrowed by 10 people or by none?” Lets hedge funds create disproportionate downward pressure

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#539

Post by archon810 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #42
rplnt wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Example from quite some time ago: Avast buying AVG. The value of AVG was around twice that of Avast.

AOL/TimeWarner, Kmart/Sears… lots of prominent examples.

And much more recently: Paramount Skydance / Warner Brothers.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#540

Post by cj »

archon810 wrote: post #536
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…

>assuming the CEO of GameStop doesn't mess it up completely. This guy? https://x.com/i/status/2051303211668021478 Surely, he's a safe bet, no chance he will mess up this deal! /s

I watched that interview live this AM and was so confused. The CEO looked annoyed and pissed the entire interview. Kept answering questions with “it’s on our website [awkward silence]”

It almost seemed like he was incredibly hung over and didn’t sleep last night.

But I got the feeling he was being a jerk on purpose. Still don’t understand why though.

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