Why is GameStop’s stock suddenly up by 13%?

GameStop stock is suddenly up by about 13% because traders are reacting to a reported plan that sounds almost absurd on paper: GameStop (NYSE: GME) may try to buy eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).

The retailer was worth around $11 billion at Friday’s close. EBay was worth about $45 billion. That is not a normal-sized gap. That is a market story with chaos baked into it.

Allegedly, GameStop has been quietly buying eBay shares before a possible offer. EBay jumped more than 10% after hours Friday after The Wall Street Journal reported the plan.

eBay has its own momentum. Its shares are up more than 50% over the past 12 months as it focuses on core categories like collectibles and fashion. In February, eBay agreed to buy secondhand fashion marketplace Depop from Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY) for $1.2 billion.

The GameStop-eBay bid could come later this month if the company moves ahead. If eBay rejects talks, Ryan Cohen could take the offer straight to eBay shareholders. The terms are still unknown.

Cohen pushes GameStop beyond games as investors price in a possible eBay fight

Ryan has already made it clear that he wants a large transaction. In late January, he told The Wall Street Journal he was looking at possible targets, mostly in consumer and retail. The goal was to move GameStop beyond video games and collectibles. That is why the stock moved so hard. Investors are not just trading old store sales. They are trading a possible rebuild of the whole company.

The board changed Ryan’s pay package at the start of the year. The new setup gives him more reason to raise market value and profitability. He could receive up to $35 billion in stock if certain goals are met, including a $100 billion market value. That number is huge beside GameStop’s recent valuation, but it fits the size of the reported eBay swing.

GameStop shares are already up about 30% this year. Part of that gain came from interest in Ryan’s deal plans. Michael Burry, the investor known from The Big Short, has also been buying shares. He has argued on Substack that GameStop should use its cash pile for transformative acquisitions. This is where the meme-stock crowd, the cash balance, and the merger idea all crash into the same trade.

GameStop uses cash, bitcoin, and margin gains to support a bigger acquisition plan

GameStop had about $9 billion in cash at the end of March, up from $4.8 billion a year earlier. Across cash and marketable securities, the pile is now above $9 billion. Some of that money had been invested in bitcoin, which makes the funding question especially relevant for crypto readers. 

When asked if GameStop would sell its bitcoin to help pay for acquisitions, Ryan said he was “not prepared to say.” He also called the new strategy “way more compelling than bitcoin.”

The operating numbers have also changed since Ryan took over in the fiscal 2023 third quarter. By fiscal 2025 third quarter, gross margin had improved by 7 percentage points. Net income reached $77.1 million, compared with a $3.1 million loss earlier. The company also posted annual profits in fiscal 2024 and 2025 after five straight yearly losses.

Burry described the setup bluntly in a Monday Substack post. “Ryan is making lemonade out of lemons,” he wrote. “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.”

Ryan has compared the plan with Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B), but on a faster clock. “It’s similar to Berkshire Hathaway, except what Berkshire did in decades, we’re attempting to do in a much shorter time,” he said. 

Ray had also said GameStop could use the Chewy (NYSE: CHWY) and GameStop mindset of “brutal efficiency” to raise profit quickly, capture value from an “under optimized asset,” and later move to another one.

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