It sounds like the plot of a fever dream — the video game retailer turned meme stock legend buying one of the internet’s oldest and largest marketplaces. But with CEO Ryan Cohen making headlines about a “very, very, very big” acquisition in the works, it’s worth asking: does GameStop actually have the firepower to pull off something like buying eBay?
The short answer is: maybe — and the math is more interesting than most people realize.
GameStop’s War Chest Is Surprisingly Large
GameStop’s retail business is undeniably shrinking. Annual revenue has fallen to about $3.63 billion, down more than 5% from the prior year, and quarterly sales continue to slide as physical game media fades away. By traditional retail standards, this is a company in long-term decline. MacroTrends
But here’s the twist: GameStop has quietly built one of the most unusual balance sheets in corporate America. As of its most recent quarter, the company held $8.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities — a staggering sum for a company with a market cap of around $12 billion. That cash pile was assembled largely by selling stock during the meme-stock frenzy, when retail investors drove the share price to extraordinary heights. GameStop essentially turned internet hype into a legitimate war chest. sec
GameStop’s current market cap sits around $12 billion, meaning the company’s cash on hand is worth nearly as much as the entire company itself. That’s an extraordinary position. GameStop Corp.
What Would Buying eBay Actually Cost?
eBay is no small target. eBay currently has a market cap of roughly $48 to $50 billion, making it one of the more valuable e-commerce companies on the market. Its enterprise value — which factors in debt and cash — comes in near $49.5 billion, with about $7.4 billion in debt and $3.5 billion in cash on its own books. StockAnalysisMacroaxis
In practice, acquiring a public company typically requires paying a significant premium over the current market price — often 20% to 40% — to convince shareholders to sell. That would put a realistic acquisition price for eBay somewhere in the range of $55 billion to $70 billion or more.
GameStop has roughly $8.8 billion in liquid assets. Even if it sold every dollar of cash and marketable securities, it would cover less than 15% of a deal that size. That gap is enormous.
So What Is Cohen Actually Talking About?
In a January 2026 interview with CNBC, Cohen described his acquisition target as a publicly traded consumer company that could be “transformational” — not just for GameStop, but for the broader capital markets. He compared the ambition to Berkshire Hathaway, suggesting he wants to build a diversified holding company, just in a much shorter time frame. CNBC
Cohen said he’s looking for a firm with an undervalued stock, strong fundamentals, and what he called a “sleepy management team,” with the goal of making the acquired business far more efficient using GameStop’s capital and operational expertise. CoinDesk
That description could apply to eBay — a company with a massive user base, steady cash flows, and a stock that has been viewed as undervalued relative to its potential. But Cohen has not named eBay or any specific target. Most analysts believe the actual deal would need to be structured creatively — part cash, part GameStop stock — to make the numbers work.
Cohen’s compensation plan offers a clue about his ambitions: he receives zero salary and no cash bonuses. His entire pay consists of stock options that only vest if GameStop’s market cap hits targets starting at $20 billion and scaling to $100 billion. That means he personally profits only if this acquisition — whatever it is — dramatically increases the company’s value. FinancialContent
The Bitcoin Wild Card
Adding one more wrinkle: GameStop originally purchased $428 million in Bitcoin in May 2025, which has since lost value. Cohen has moved the entire Bitcoin stash to Coinbase Prime and declined to rule out selling it to fund the acquisition, saying only that the new strategy is “way more compelling than Bitcoin.” Whether those crypto holdings are liquidated could free up a few hundred million more dollars — not enough to change the math dramatically on a $50+ billion deal, but potentially useful as part of a broader financing strategy. CoinCentralCoinDesk
The Bottom Line
Could GameStop buy eBay with cash alone? No — not even close. The gap between $8.8 billion in cash and a $55+ billion acquisition price is simply too large to bridge outright.
But could GameStop use its cash as a down payment, combine it with a large stock deal, and possibly take on debt to make a run at a major consumer company? That’s more plausible — particularly if the target’s own shareholders are willing to accept GameStop stock as part of the deal.
Michael Burry, the investor famous for betting against the housing market before the 2008 financial crisis, recently said of Cohen: “He has a crappy business, and he is milking it best he can while taking advantage of the meme stock phenomenon to raise cash and wait for an opportunity to make a big buy of a real growing cash cow business.” CNBC
That’s a fair summary. GameStop is not a typical acquirer. It’s a declining retailer with an unusual amount of money and a CEO with something to prove. Whether that combination leads to a genuinely transformational deal — or a very expensive mistake — is one of the more fascinating ongoing stories in corporate America.
All figures are approximate and based on the most recently available public filings and market data as of May 2026.
