GameStop, the U.S. video game retailer, is pursuing an acquisition of e-commerce company eBay.
Ryan Cohen, CEO of GameStop, said in a Wall Street Journal interview on Monday that he had conveyed a proposal to acquire eBay for $56 billion (82.36 trillion won).
GameStop proposed to acquire eBay at $125 per share, roughly 20% above its closing price last Saturday. GameStop currently holds approximately 5% of eBay's shares. The strategy is to appeal directly to shareholders if eBay rejects the offer.
Cohen said he aims to grow eBay into a retail giant surpassing Amazon, the online distribution behemoth, through synergies between the two retailers. "eBay should be worth much more, and it will be," he said. "I will turn eBay into a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars."
Shedding Auctions, Evolving Into a Collectibles Kingdom
Founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, eBay began as a hobbyist auction service but has pivoted several times since. It is now establishing itself as a trading platform centered on rare collectibles such as sports memorabilia, trading cards, and vintage apparel.
GameStop is following a similar path. The company has steadily expanded sales of collectibles, including Pokémon cards, as it moves away from its traditional video game retail business. Analysts say eBay's roughly 135 million active users could serve as a springboard to accelerate this strategy. eBay posted $11 billion (about 16.2 trillion won) in revenue and approximately $2 billion (about 2.95 trillion won) in net profit last year.
Skepticism Over Deal with a Target Four Times Its Size
Many remain skeptical that the acquisition will materialize.
eBay's market capitalization stands at about $46 billion (about 68.3 trillion won), nearly four times that of GameStop, which is around $12 billion (about 17.8 trillion won). Enormous financing would be required to realize the deal, and the financial burden is cited as the biggest obstacle. Bernstein analysts also struck a cautious tone, saying, "There will be significant challenges in structuring this deal."
GameStop said it has secured approximately $20 billion in debt financing support from TD Bank for the acquisition. The market capitalizations of GameStop and eBay are $12 billion and $46 billion, respectively. In a letter to investors Monday, GameStop said it would cut about $2 billion in annual costs within 12 months after completing the acquisition.
Top Growth Rate in Korea's Reverse Direct Purchase Market
eBay is also posting notable results in the Korean market. eBay Korea established itself in the domestic e-commerce market after acquiring Auction in 2001 and Gmarket in 2009, but exited direct operations in Korea in November 2021 by selling an 80.01% stake in eBay Korea to E-Mart for $3 billion. The company has since shifted its business direction to serve as a reverse direct purchase platform for Korean sellers selling overseas.
The results are emerging rapidly. Revenue from Korean sellers selling overseas has set record highs for five consecutive quarters starting in the fourth quarter of 2024, and Korea recorded the highest growth rate among eBay's global sales countries. The number of new sellers also grew by double digits from a year earlier.
Popular items have also diversified. The top-selling category was drones, followed by auto parts and men's fashion accessories, with K-brands such as Gentle Monster and Rockfish, along with K-hair care products, also ranking high. Drones in particular posted the most striking performance, with growth more than several hundredfold from the previous year.
eBay is actively supporting Korean sellers in diversifying their target countries through its "eBaymag" service, which automatically translates products listed in the U.S. and registers them on seven local sites including the U.K. and France. Analysts say eBaymag can serve as an effective response strategy amid an uncertain external environment, including changes in tariff policies.
Building Competitiveness with AI, but New Rivals Like Temu Intensify Competition
eBay is also focusing on strengthening its own competitiveness by combining cost efficiency with investments in AI technology. A prime example is its "Magical Listing" feature, which automatically generates product descriptions and appropriate prices from a single uploaded photo. The company is also accelerating expansion of its own data centers and GPU infrastructure.
However, competition is intensifying not only with retail giants such as Amazon and Walmart but also with emerging platforms such as Etsy and Temu, leaving it uncertain whether eBay's growth strategy will unfold smoothly.
