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eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

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Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#21
post #3

Any reasonable person could see this was a ridiculous clown show, put on by the ridiculous clown show meme stock company.

This movie isn't over yet. We'll have to wait and see if GameStop goes full 80's on them with a hostile takeover attempt.

Meanwhile they're now working on getting approval to dilute out another billion or so shares:

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001326380/0...

"We are asking our stockholders to approve an amendment to our Third Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended by the Certificate of Amendment dated June 2, 2022 (the “Existing Charter”), to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock to 2,500,000,000, and correspondingly increase the number of authorized shares of all classes of our stock to 2,505,000,000 for the reasons discussed below. Our Existing Charter currently authorizes the issuance of 1,000,000,000 shares of common stock and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock."

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#22
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gamestop turning into an eBay storefront makes a lot of sense to me and this seemed to be a very rational step to take when the short squeeze anomaly left them with billions in the bank and a business model that no longer makes very much sense with physical game sales being eaten by digital-only sales along with the potential decline of the console. They already have the position of used buying and sales, extending t…

I guess it comes to management. I agree that if GameStop were basically rebranded as eBay brick and mortar stores, that might work. I guess I just feel like if it were GameStop itself that were managing it then it would be unlikely to actually work. It's not like digital storefronts are new ; I think GameStop should have been pivoting the moment that Steam started getting traction.

You guys might not have seen the recent interviews (last week) with gamestop CEO Ryan Cohen. Gamestop has already pivoted, game and console sales are cyclical and hard to base a business upon. They have leaned hard into collectables as a way to expand their business and retail model.

I am unsure how a Gamestop/eBay storefront would do. Physical manifestations of "eBay stores" have existed in the past and none of them did very well long term.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#24
post #2

I really thought it was going to be the other way around. I am quite confident that if GameStop bought eBay, they would ruin it in the same way that K-Mart buying Sears ruined that company. I could be wrong, I'm not a business person, but it seems kind of obvious that a company like GameStop, whose current existence appears to be due to a weird short squeeze anomaly, is not a sustainable business.

The TD Bank securities commitment of 20B to finance the deal and GameStop having a market cap far below the acquisition cost suggests that buying eBay would’ve been very problematic and risky for investors. But comparing it to K mart buying sears isn’t really accurate to me.

Like yeah, GameStop clearly fits into the death of retail, and acquiring eBay does increase their market visibility or presence. Beyond that, what ebay/GS could’ve gained is way different and arguably more substantial than what acquiring Sears did for either company involved. Atleast here, one operates storefronts for second hand transactions and the other expressly doesn’t. There is definitely money in that.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#25
post #2

I really thought it was going to be the other way around. I am quite confident that if GameStop bought eBay, they would ruin it in the same way that K-Mart buying Sears ruined that company. I could be wrong, I'm not a business person, but it seems kind of obvious that a company like GameStop, whose current existence appears to be due to a weird short squeeze anomaly, is not a sustainable business.

The context this comment misses is Gamestop's secret weapon is their CEO Ryan Cohen who has been sitting around the hoop trying to figure out how to leverage Gamestop's fundraising capabilities to do something big

Couple of highlights on Ryan

- Built and sold Chewy from a startup to the largest ecomm acq of all time - Became #1 individual shareholder of Apple early on - Bought a 10% share of Gamespot in 2020 becoming largest personal shareholder - Took over as CEO after being a proactive board member, works for no salary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Cohen

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#26
Here's the biggest reason why -

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen gets a performance pay if the market cap goes up:

> The total award consists of stock options to purchase 171,537,327 shares of the Company's Class A common stock at a price of $20.66 per share.

  Tranche  Award%  Market Cap Hurdle  EBITDA Hurdle
   
  1  10%   $20 Billion    $2.0 Billion
  2  10%   $30 Billion    $3.0 Billion
  3  10%   $40 Billion    $4.0 Billion
  4  10%   $50 Billion    $5.0 Billion
  5  10%   $60 Billion    $6.0 Billion
  6  10%   $70 Billion    $7.0 Billion
  7  10%   $80 Billion    $8.0 Billion
  8  15%   $90 Billion    $9.0 Billion
  9  15%   $100 Billion   $10.0 Billion
Swallowing a new company, even if it takes on debt, can bump this up.

eBay market cap is $48B.

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

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#27
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This movie isn't over yet. We'll have to wait and see if GameStop goes full 80's on them with a hostile takeover attempt.

Meanwhile they're now working on getting approval to dilute out another billion or so shares: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001326380/0... "We are asking our stockholders to approve an amendment to our Third Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended by the Certificate of Amendment dated June 2, 2022 (the “Existing Charter”), to increase the number of authorized shares of our com…

Cocaine (or whatever their CEO is on) doesn't buy itself.

Edit: Also, the fact that company leadership can get away with this kind of thing, fleecing retail investors for millions/billions of dollars, and face no consequences is...I dunno. I guess it's just normal now. Lawlessness, bribery, favors to the right politicians, lying without hesitation or remorse. People in media clutching their pearls over whatever the Gen Z kids are getting up to on TikTok while this shit is going on is just the icing on the cake.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#28
post #14
post #3

Any reasonable person could see this was a ridiculous clown show, put on by the ridiculous clown show meme stock company.

I mean they make a good point -- ebay isn't a serious company anymore. It really needs someone with a vision to rebuild it. That its limping along and executives are essentially bleeding a previously valuable internet asset dry is kind of sad.

The sad part is the offer primarily focussed on how eBay can cut costs when a lot of that spending is probably accretive.

eBay’s biggest issue is their declining online shopping marketshare. They’ve gone from owning nearly the entire market to just losing it.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#29
post #16

As a avid eBay customer I am pretty relieved. I buy 2-3 items a month and was selling for the last 2 years on the platform. It's come such a long way and is really a great, streamlined experience. Of course I'm sure folks that make their living off their stores & sales will have different opinions, but I'd say as a routine customer and seller it doesn't need an external company's takeover pressure on it.

I agree. eBay has a strong brand, one of the oldest web brands. It should just continue doing what it's doing.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#30
post #14
post #3

Any reasonable person could see this was a ridiculous clown show, put on by the ridiculous clown show meme stock company.

I mean they make a good point -- ebay isn't a serious company anymore. It really needs someone with a vision to rebuild it. That its limping along and executives are essentially bleeding a previously valuable internet asset dry is kind of sad.

Neither is GameStop
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