GameStop Corp. is proposing to buy eBay Inc. for about $56 billion in cash and stock, a bold attempt by Ryan Cohen to take over a storied e-commerce name several times larger.
The gaming retail chain offered $125 per share in cash and stock for the online marketplace, or about a 20% premium to its Friday close. GameStop, which built a roughly 5% stake in eBay, said it’s secured an initial, non-binding “highly confident letter” from TD Bank to provide about $20 billion of debt financing. In a memo to investors Sunday, Cohen’s company pledged to find some $2 billion of annual savings within 12 months of closing.
