One of the most unusual business stories of the year comes from the gaming world – GameStop has made an offer to acquire eBay valued at around 55.5 billion US dollars.
This is a non-binding offer that includes about 125 US dollars per share, with a combination of cash and stock in a 50:50 ratio.
Ambitious plan by Ryan Cohen
The entire initiative is led by GameStop's CEO, Ryan Cohen, who wants to transform the company from a traditional gaming retail chain into a major player in the e-commerce sector.
GameStop has previously built about a 5% stake in eBay, indicating that this move did not come as a surprise.
The plan includes creating a serious competitor to Amazon, with potential savings of up to 2 billion US dollars annually through cost-cutting and business reorganization.
One of the key elements of the strategy is to use GameStop's physical stores as logistics centers for eBay – from delivery to product authentication.
Financial reality: big risk
Although the plan sounds ambitious, the numbers raise serious skepticism.
GameStop is valued at around 11–12 billion US dollars
eBay is valued at around 45–46 billion US dollars
In other words, a smaller company is trying to buy a significantly larger one – which is extremely rare in the business world.
To finance the deal, a potential loan of around 20 billion US dollars is mentioned, along with additional financing through stock.
Analysts warn that such a move could lead to significant dilution of shares and financial pressure on GameStop.
