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NEW YORK CITY — GameStop has made an unsolicited offer to acquire U.S. online marketplace eBay Inc for about $56 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing an interview with GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen.
GameStop has built a roughly 5% stake in eBay and is offering $125 a share in cash and stock, Cohen told the WSJ. The offer represents a premium of about 20% to eBay's last closing price on Friday.
If eBay is not receptive, Cohen said he was prepared to run a proxy fight and take the offer directly to shareholders, the report added.
"EBay should be worth — and will be worth — a lot more money," Cohen said in the WSJ interview. "I'm thinking about turning eBay into something worth hundreds of billions of dollars."
The CEO of the videogame retailer said he has secured a commitment letter from TD Bank for about $20 billion in debt financing.
GameStop could seek support from external investors, including Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, to help finance the deal, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
GameStop holds a market value of nearly $12 billion, while eBay has a market capitalization of about $46 billion, according to Reuters calculations.
TD Bank, GameStop and eBay did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for a comment.
A potential deal would upend the usual M&A playbook. It's rare for a public company to target one nearly four times its size; such deals typically rely on heavy debt, stock issuance, or both — banking on the combined company's future earnings to justify the cost.
Grapevine, Texas-based GameStop is expected to disclose details of its offer later on Sunday, the WSJ said.
