Help me understand the appeal of Gamestop's offer from the perspective of ebay shareholders
As a shareholder my first and only concern is the share price. If the business is doing well, great, but I only care about that as far as it impacts the price of my shares. In the words of a legendary comment from the old days of this sub: I don't care if the company makes money as long as I make money.
Now what do I get if I accept the deal?
A CEO who has a large stake in his own company and has turned the business around with great success and who will probably improve the business of my company.
Awesome, but do I really care about that if it doesn't increase the price (just like it hasn't increased the price of GME)
What I also get:
A CEO who has diluted his investors multiple times, who has repeatedly and vocally expressed his questionable political views, who bought BTC at the top. The leader of a company that, in the opinion of its own investors, is the target of a massive coordinated effort to keep its price. By merging with that company I would risk becoming a target myself. Oh and I also saddle my company with 20B of debt.
What I don't get:
A CEO who, over his time as chairman and consequently as CEO has presided over a significant increase in the share price.
What I have:
A board and a CEO who presided over a ~3x increase in the value of my investment since their tenure started. A price that is still rising even today.
I'm sure Ryan Cohen has some kind of plan, but based on the information currently available, this deal just doesn't seem particularly attractive. I don't understand why eBay shareholders would vote in favor of it, and ultimately, they're the ones who decide whether this deal happens.
What am I missing? I'd genuinely like to understand the case for this offer from the perspective of an eBay shareholder.
Posted Jul 9, 2026, 7:52 PM UTC