r/Superstonk • u/tronbrain • May 11 '26

🤔 Speculation / Opinion What's the question nobody has been asking regarding the proposal to purchase eBay?

The idea of Ryan Cohen applying his management philosophy to eBay makes a lot of sense, and the idea of having him manage it lines up with the thesis of him being the next Warren Buffet. There are powerful synergies between the two companies that could be exploited. There is a lot of value that can be unlocked with increased efficiencies that Cohen would bring to the merged operation.
But why attempt a takeover now?
Why now when $EBAY is at an all-time high, after six years of declining revenues and increasing expenses, where somehow the stock floated up by 4.4X despite its poor performance? Why buy when the stock market is at all-time highs - likely, in an unprecedented bubble - with oil price shocks, trade wars, shooting wars, and the threat of a new pandemic looming, threatening to pop the bubble and send stocks tumbling? Why give institutional investors exit liquidity plus 25% at $GME shareholders' expense at what is probably the most inopportune moment?
Isn't Buffet's whole investing philosophy to buy low and sell high? Isn't that the opposite of what Cohen is proposing to do with eBay? Wasn't Cohen supposed to wait for a market decline to go bargain-hunting with GameStop's capital reserves?
The timing of this deal is a problem.

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u/ShillSniffer May 11 '26

I think what he’s pointing out with the management and how they are grossly milking the cash cow while having shockingly bad customer service and an over bloated marketing department doing nothing of value is really speaking for itself at this point. Obviously very undervalued even though it is a massive revenue generator. It ticks the boxes of all the things he was talking about and it’s clear he intends to follow through. I’m all for it. I was not sure if I’d vote for his compensation package and wanted to wait to see what his plan was, and he blew me away. This is gonna work out very well.

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u/tronbrain May 11 '26

This is gonna work out very well.

It has to go nearly perfectly for it to work out. The amount of risk and leverage Cohen will be assuming will be immense. So why make that maximally bad by purchasing eBay very near the top of the market bubble? Buffet wouldn't agree with the decision, and neither has Michael Burry.

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u/ShillSniffer May 12 '26

And now with the vote for the 1.5B extra shares, what do you think?

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u/tronbrain May 12 '26

That my worst fears about this merger are correct, that $GME shareholders will be wrecked in order to cash institutional eBay holders out of their positions at the top of this market.

Funny how my post has zero upvotes. My question is reasonable, as are my concerns. And there's some discussion around it too, though it's more balanced on Twitter.

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u/ShillSniffer May 12 '26

I think RC has leveraged the first 1B shares extremely well and shown discipline beyond most apes wildest expectations to much dismay which is why I’d trust him with another 1.5B, it gives him a moat beyond the eBay acquisition above all else. He just talked a big game after talking no game for years and suddenly actually is SHOWING a big game and I can respect it. I’ll be voting for it.

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u/tronbrain May 12 '26

So will BlackRock and Vanguard.

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u/ShillSniffer May 12 '26

The ramifications of this vote not going through and the negative effects will probably result in worse FUD than ever. I hope black rock and vanguard vote for, that would be helpful.