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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

#542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I think it made about a billion dollars in profit" It raised over a billion dollars of capital (i.e. issued shares in return for cash). It did not make a billion dollars in profit (and has never had a year when it did).

Key financial results for Gamestop from the recent fiscal year (2025–2026) include: Net Income: $418.4 million Gross Profit: $1.196 billion Total Revenue: $3.63 billion Operating Income: $285.9 million

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Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#545
post #505

This is just a leverage buyout and it will likely result in the slow death of both parties while there is value extraction for those in control. Think Sears, Toys R US and similar. The CEO has a very specific deal where he gets paid significant compensation for specific valuations, which this is likely to achieve. That is value extraction at the cost of shareholders who will be on the hook for the leveraged loan and…

Gets paid compensation in stock. So if shareholders lose value, he does too.

Not exactly,

https://investor.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-details/202...

He has to hit both the market cap and EBITDA for each tranche of his compensation plan to vest. He could do this by growing the core business, or by doing a merger like the proposed eBay one. Even if such a merger was very dilutive, even value destroying, it could help him vest a tranche he otherwise would not, for more value than the dilution reduces his position.

To be absolutely clear, I hope+think in practice that he is aligned with shareholders, especially given that the market cap restrictions appear much easier to hit than the EBITDA ones, but it's important to be precise because there's so much misinformation going around.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#546

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…

But eBay is just bad company with a bad reputation. Why would they buy it instead something like Etsy or make their own thing? If you would ask me what are the worst companies from the “old guard” I would name eBay and PayPal as prime suspects.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Liquid Assets: May 2020: $570.3 million Jan 2026: $9.013 billion

Keep in mind, this is not because they turned the business around and made tons of money. Sales are lower now than in 2020. Investors gave them this money; they sold additional stock to raise $3.47B in 2024, and another $4.2B of convertible debt in 2025.

They have not made a ton of money yet, but they have turned the business around in a significant way. Where GameStop lost money every quarter from 2019 to 2023, it has now had 8 profitable quarters in a row.

The fact that investors are giving GameStop money is a good thing for GameStop; It is a signal of confidence. It is not a detriment like you try to position it.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#548

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…

But eBay is just bad company with a bad reputation. Why would they buy it instead something like Etsy or make their own thing? If you would ask me what are the worst companies from the “old guard” I would name eBay and PayPal as prime suspects.

Because Etsy is not a general second-hand marketplace. Its niche is artisans making small batch items. And making your own thing at the scale of ebay is not exactly a small feat.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Total revenue declined because they closed stores. But income went up because those stores were losing money. They also made a lot off of interest on their cash, but that is going to get cut by about 30% if this goes through, as the combined cash position Gamestop has access to declines from 9 billion to 6 billion. Or so I've heard.

Total revenue has declined for several years, -27% in 2024, -11% in 2023 (2023 rev was $5.9b, to $3.6b in 2025, this is a shrinking business).

They haven't had a genuinely good year in the last 15 years.

Their TTM revenue is down 66% from what it was in 2012.

In nominal dollars. In real dollars it's down 75%.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GME/gamestop/reven...

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#550
post #263

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…

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…

Leveraged buyouts are a fucking disease
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