GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen is reportedly considering withdrawing his $56 billion bid to acquire eBay, three months after the e-commerce company forcefully rejected the unsolicited offer.
Cohen's team is now exploring alternatives, including a potential partnership or joint venture with the online marketplace, with GameStop seeking board representation as part of any such arrangement.
The initial bid, made in May 2026, drew immediate skepticism given the gap between the offer price and GameStop's own market capitalization, which stood at approximately $11 billion at the time of the proposal's disclosure.
GameStop's stock has continued to slide since May. Its market cap now sits at $8.6 billion—the lowest valuation for the company since the 2024 meme stock downturn.
Cohen co-founded Chewy and took a $76 million stake in GameStop in 2020, later becoming CEO and overseeing significant operational changes, including the closure of hundreds of stores. Under his tenure, GameStop pursued ventures in NFTs and blockchain technology before shifting focus toward becoming a Pokémon-focused toy retailer. Cohen said he is not passionate about the GameStop business while pursuing the eBay plan.
By mid-July, Cohen had acquired 9.8 percent of eBay's shares. He previously said, "I'm not going to call my shots, but we're coming for eBay one way or another."
Cohen had reportedly secured a promise of a $20 billion loan from an investor for the acquisition, but a CNBC interview revealed no clear strategy for securing the remaining funds needed to complete the $56 billion offer.
Analysts question the strategic logic of the proposed combination. eBay operates as a fully digital auction platform with no physical retail presence; the rationale for incorporating GameStop's roughly 1,600 brick-and-mortar stores into that model remains unclear to market observers.
Cohen has not made a final decision on whether to withdraw the bid or on the structure of any revised proposal.
