Did the acquisition ambition shrink after the stock price fell 28%? Rumor has it that the CEO of GME.US (GME.US) is considering abandoning the purchase of eBay (EBAY.US) and switching to a joint venture

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to people familiar with the matter, GME.US (Ryan Cohen) CEO Ryan Cohen (Ryan Cohen) is considering withdrawing the $56 billion takeover offer for eBay Inc. (EBAY.US).

According to people familiar with the matter, Cohen is considering proposing partnerships or joint ventures to enable eBay to utilize the resources of GameStop's approximately 1,600 retail stores in the US. The move may help the two companies increase their market share in high-margin categories such as trading cards and collectibles.

People familiar with the matter also added that as one of eBay's largest shareholders, GameStop will seek a seat on the eBay board of directors if it reaches any kind of cooperation.

Since the takeover offer was made in May, GameStop's stock price has fallen 28%, while eBay's share price has risen 7.6%. The $125 per share purchase offer consists of 50% cash and 50% GameStop common stock.

eBay shares closed at $111.98 last Friday, with a market capitalization of around $49.8 billion. When included in debt, the company's value is close to $54 billion.

People familiar with the matter said GameStop has yet to make a final decision, and Cohen may still evaluate other alternatives. Currently, representatives from GameStop and eBay have not been able to immediately comment.

This takeover attempt can be described as a bold move by Cohen — previously GameStop had taken 5% of the shares in this e-commerce company, which far surpassed its size. Since then, Game Station has continued to increase its holdings. According to compiled data, as of July 15, its shareholding ratio reached 9.75%, making it the second-largest shareholder of eBay, after a fund owned by Vanguard Group Inc. (Vanguard Group Inc.).

Although GameStop, headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, has $8.4 billion in cash to allocate, its market value has shrunk to $8.6 billion.

Game Station underwent a series of drastic changes before the proposed acquisition was introduced. The game retail chain continues to reduce the size of its physical stores as players increasingly turn to online software purchases.

In 2021, Game Station once became the center of a storm of retail investment frenzy. Michael Burry (Michael Burry), head of Scion Asset Management — famous for successfully shorting mortgages before the 2008 financial crisis — had a bullish stance on the stock around 2019, further boosting GameStop's gains.

However, after GameStop made a takeover offer to eBay, Barry said he had cleared all of his positions because he was concerned that GameStop might be burdened with too much debt to finance the transaction.

Despite eBay's challenges in adapting to changing consumer preferences, its platform still has around $80 billion in annual transactions. In the 12 months ending March 31, approximately 136 million global buyers completed their purchases on the platform.