GameStop is still trying to buy eBay, even after being turned away once. The U.S. retailer said it remains determined to pursue an eBay deal, but it offered no new terms, no timeline, and no clue as to how it would finance a transaction that would dwarf its own size. That makes this less like a clean takeover bid and more like a company testing how far ambition can outrun valuation.
The original attempt came in May, when GameStop floated a $56 billion takeover proposal and got an early rejection. The latest statement suggests that was not enough to knock management off course, even though eBay’s market value is still roughly five times higher than GameStop’s. In plain English: the shopper is trying to buy the mall.
GameStop’s eBay takeover pitch
GameStop is leaning on improving results to make the idea sound less absurd. Its EBITDA reached $345.4 million in the last fiscal year, and it expects to top $600 million in the current one. That kind of progress is enough to excite shareholders, which helped lift the stock by more than 2% after U.S. trading closed.
Still, earnings growth is not the same thing as acquisition capacity. A company can be on a better trajectory and still face a very large question mark when the target is worth several times more and has already signaled resistance. The awkward part for GameStop is that it has promised more detail before and failed to deliver on schedule, which is rarely how you win over a skeptical market.
eBay has little incentive to smile politely
eBay has not publicly commented on the latest move, at least not by the time Reuters reported the story. That silence is easy to read: no seller likes being told to reconsider a price tag after already saying no once. If GameStop wants to change that, it will need either a far better offer or a story convincing enough to make eBay’s board think twice.
The next move is the real test
For now, the big question is whether those promised additional materials ever arrive and whether they contain substance or just more theater. If GameStop is serious, the numbers will have to do the talking. If not, this will end up looking like a bold bid that was always more useful for headlines than for closing a deal.