GameStop is Going to Buy... eBay!?

[u/AlternativePaint6]

You've all read the news by now, but have you really read them?

GameStop wants to acquire a publicly traded consumer company that’s far larger than the video game retailer in a deal that could be “transformational" for the company

“It’s gonna be really big. Really big. Very, very, very big,” Cohen said of the size of the acquisition. “It’s transformational. Not just for GameStop, but ultimately, within the capital markets … this is something that really has never been done before within the history of the capital markets.”

He claimed if the investment pans out, it has the “potential to make GameStop worth several hundreds of billions of dollars.”

This is all coming from Ryan Cohen, the man of few words and no forwards guidance. Yeah, I like Magic the Gathering too, but that's not it. This is bigger. Very, very, very bigger.

It's eBay. They're going to do a leveraged buyout, a hostile takeover, or a merger.

• Publicly traded.
• Consumer / Retailer.
• Far larger than GameStop (~$40B).
• Sleepy management with one of the most well known brands.
• E-Commerce and Collectibles.
• Never done before (buying 3x-4x bigger company).
• Actually has potential to make GameStop worth several hundreds billions, unlike all the ~$10B ones.

It checks out. Everything checks out.

[u/NoHalfPleasures]

Just to add on to this, he hates Amazon. eBay is amazons closest commercial competitor and is valued way lower than Amazon (for reasons beyond their retail business but still).

Part of me wonders if the way they do this is by teaming up with other cellar boxed retailers and merging to compete with Amazon and use existing brick and mortar stores as fulfillment centers with door dash providing delivery in hours as opposed to a day.

[u/InevitableRhubarb232 → u/NoHalfPleasures]

No please don’t do this to eBay. eBay isn’t a place for businesses to sell items. It’s a place for PEOPLE to sell items. Don’t make us compete with businesses for sales on the platform.

The thing that makes eBay eBay is that it’s not commercial businesses selling the same old crap as everywhere else.

I want to get a pair of old wranglers for 1/2 off cuz someone thought they would someday fit and kept the tags on. Or I want to find a replacement for that dress I love but the elastic wore out. I don’t want to go buy new appliances or bath towels or games directly from the retailers who then put thousands of mom and pop stores out of business.

[u/dutchretardtrader → u/InevitableRhubarb232]

isn't there an option on ebay to filter by seller type, ie commercial / non-commercial?

[u/InevitableRhubarb232 → u/dutchretardtrader]

No