Ryan Cohen says he by no means needed to be CEO of GameStop.
As an alternative, he says he goals of helming eBay and thinks he has an actual shot at attaining that objective, regardless of critics’ claims that the e-commerce big is past his attain.
“I’ll proceed doing no matter I must do with the intention to purchase the enterprise,” the GameStop CEO advised Enterprise Insider in a cellphone interview on Friday. “I’ll make myself CEO of each.”
Cohen shocked Wall Road earlier this week when he disclosed that GameStop had made an unsolicited bid of about $56 billion for eBay, which has a market worth greater than thrice its measurement. He raised eyebrows once more on Monday when he appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Field,” throughout which the hosts overtly doubted whether or not the corporate may afford eBay and responded to his remarks with exhalations and chuckles.
“I am unsure whether or not their questions had been honest or not,” stated Cohen, including that he laid out a transparent clarification of how he would finance a deal for eBay. “I do not know what’s so sophisticated for them to determine it out.”
A CNBC spokesperson stated the “Squawk Field” interview “speaks for itself.”
Cohen, whose “half money, half inventory” mantra describing the financing shortly became a meme, stated GameStop has about $9 billion in money and that TD Financial institution had expressed confidence in inserting roughly $20 billion in debt. Collectively, he stated, would cowl the money portion of the bid. Within the wake of his viral CNBC look, Cohen provided a extra detailed clarification of his math, together with on TBPN.
“What we’re proposing is for current shareholders to take half of their funding off the desk, and that might be us offering them with $28 billion, which is sort of a 40% premium from once we began shopping for the inventory,” he advised TBPN. “After which they’d be getting roughly — I imply it will depend on in the end when the transaction closes — however they’d be rolling the remainder into the mixed firm of GameStop and eBay.”
When talking with Enterprise Insider, Cohen urged the inventory part can be “earnings per share accretive” for GameStop shareholders as a result of he stated he may considerably improve eBay’s profitability by cost-cutting, making the mixed entities extra invaluable general.
A well-known playbook
In publicly criticizing eBay’s management and arguing he may do a greater job, Cohen borrowed from the playbook he used when he took over GameStop in 2021. A key distinction, although, is that eBay’s enterprise is far more healthy at the moment than GameStop’s was again then.
Cohen, who constructed his fortune because the cofounder of on-line pet-products retailer Chewy, advised Enterprise Insider that eBay may very well be in a fair higher monetary place if it had been managed extra effectively.
“There is a ton of fats that may be lower,” he stated, pointing to what he described as extreme working bills at an organization that carries no stock and whose working earnings has remained roughly flat for a decade regardless of broader e-commerce progress.
EBay’s working earnings was $2.28 billion for 2025 in comparison with $2.2 billion for 2015. The corporate accomplished its PayPal spinoff in 2015 and has offloaded different belongings within the final decade, together with promoting StubHub. The corporate’s EBITDA margin, a profitability ratio measuring operational effectivity, was 24% for 2025.
Cohen additionally took intention at eBay’s executives and administrators. He alleged they’d offered “lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} of inventory” with out shopping for shares themselves.
“They don’t seem to be house owners within the enterprise. They’re simply milking it,” he stated. “It is merely a paycheck for them.”
Like different executives of publicly traded firms, Ebay’s management receives shares and inventory choices as a part of their compensation packages. A supply acquainted with the matter stated firm insiders at the moment personal over $150 million in shares.
Additional, Cohen criticized eBay’s company tradition, alleging that the corporate had change into too snug and undisciplined beneath its present management.
EBay has publicly stated it’s reviewing Cohen’s bid.
A frugal ‘meme king’
Cohen, who has additionally pushed for change at Nordstrom and Mattress Tub & Past, stated he would not take a wage if he grew to become CEO of eBay. He would not earn one at GameStop, although he has a $35 billion compensation bundle tied to hitting market cap and revenue milestones, which an eBay deal may assist unlock. He stated he pays his private assistant out of his personal pocket and that whoever GameStop hires for a just lately posted private project manager job can be compensated the identical method.
“I’ve not pulled a penny out of GameStop,” he stated.
Since unveiling his bid for eBay, Cohen has leaned into his message about frugality — and his “meme king” status for publicity stunts — by itemizing private objects on the market on the platform. These included one for a used pair of socks that drew bids of over $14,000. He stated the trouble is a honest a part of a broader push to assist finance the acquisition.
“I’ve numerous spare stuff,” he stated.
In a quick follow-up name on Friday, Cohen expanded on his aspirations for main the merged firms.
“I didn’t wish to be the CEO of GameStop. I wish to be the CEO of eBay,” he stated. “I am enthusiastic about eBay. I consider in eBay’s enterprise. I wasn’t enthusiastic about GameStop. That is the distinction.”
Correction, Might 9, 2026: An earlier model of this text misstated the 12 months Cohen took over GameStop. This story has additionally been up to date with details about eBay management inventory holdings and the corporate’s financials.
