Source: GameStop makes $55.5bn takeover offer for eBay Publisher: BBC News | Author: Osmond Chia Published: May 4, 2026 | Archived: May 4, 2026

Video game retailer GameStop has made a surprise $55.5bn (£40.9bn) offer to buy e-commerce giant eBay.

The cash and stock offer values eBay at $125 a share, $20 more than the company’s value when trading ended in New York on Friday.

GameStop’s chief executive, Ryan Cohen, said eBay could be much more successful under his leadership and even rival Amazon.

He also said he was prepared to take his bid directly to shareholders if eBay’s board rejected it. eBay said it will consider the proposal but analysts expressed doubts about the idea.

Morgan Stanley said the two companies had “fundamentally different” business models, while Bernstein pointed to GameStop’s smaller balance sheet, saying it would be “surprised if anything became of it”.

GameStop rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic when it became the centre of the so-called meme stock craze.

This saw retail investors buy up shares in unloved companies that professional investors had bet against, causing their share price to rise and fall sharply.

The chain still has around 1,600 outlets in the US and has seen something of a turnaround under Cohen.