GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen told Bloomberg television on July 16, 2026 that physical video game sales are “totally, totally irrelevant” to his company’s future, just hours after confirming GameStop had nearly doubled its stake in eBay to roughly 9.8% and vowed to keep chasing a takeover of the online marketplace “one way or another.” The remark landed one week after Sony confirmed it will stop producing physical PlayStation game discs for titles released after January 2028, and it crystallized a shift that has been building inside GameStop for two years: a 42-year-old video game retailer that now makes more money from trading cards and collectibles than from the games in its name.
The comments, combined with an unsolicited $55.5 billion bid for eBay that its board has already rejected once, mark one of the strangest corporate maneuvers in gaming-industry history — a struggling game retailer trying to buy a company more than four times its own market value, while its CEO publicly writes off the product category that built the business. Here is what actually happened, what the numbers show, and what it means for the future of physical games.
GameStop’s CEO Calls Physical Games “Totally Irrelevant” on Live TV
Speaking with Bloomberg Technology anchor Ed Ludlow on July 16, Cohen was asked directly whether Sony’s decision to end physical PlayStation disc production would hurt GameStop’s business. His answer was blunt: “It doesn’t matter at all.” Pressed further on whether software sales still mattered to the company at all, Cohen doubled down, calling them “totally, totally irrelevant.” When the conversation turned to Grand Theft Auto 6 — the most anticipated console release in years, due November 19, 2026 — Cohen declined to engage, instead saying, “I want to go back and talk about eBay.”
That deflection was itself the story. GameStop’s namesake business has shrunk to the point where its own CEO would rather talk about a $55.5 billion acquisition bid for an e-commerce marketplace than the biggest video game launch of the year. Cohen framed eBay differently in the same Bloomberg interview: “eBay is a platform that I can build into something much more profitable and much larger,” he said, adding that he hopes a combined company could eventually become “a $1 trillion business.”
Inside GameStop’s $55.5 Billion Bid for eBay
GameStop’s pursuit of eBay did not start with the July interview. The retailer first disclosed a 5% stake in eBay in May 2026 alongside an unsolicited, non-binding offer to acquire the entire company for $125 per share in a cash-and-stock deal, valuing eBay at approximately $55.5 billion. The structure was split evenly — 50% cash, 50% newly issued GameStop stock — with existing eBay shareholders able to elect their preferred mix. The offer represented a 20% premium over eBay’s Friday closing price of $104.07, and a 46% premium over eBay’s closing price on February 4, 2026, the date GameStop began quietly building its position in the company.
GameStop said the cash portion would be funded from roughly $9.4 billion in cash and liquid investments on hand as of January 31, 2026, backed by a “highly confident” letter from TD Securities for up to $20 billion in acquisition financing. That financing was contingent on the combined company maintaining an investment-grade credit rating from at least two of the three major ratings agencies — a condition that would later become one of the deal’s biggest sticking points. Cohen also said he personally would pledge roughly $500 million of his own capital and would become CEO of the combined company, forgoing a traditional salary in favor of performance-based pay.
GameStop's unsolicited bid for eBay (deal terms, non-official summary)
Offer price: $125.00 per eBay share
Implied deal value: ~$55.5 billion (~$56B rounded)
Structure: 50% cash / 50% GameStop common stock
Premium to Friday close: 20% (eBay closed at $104.07)
Premium to Feb 4 close: 46% (date GameStop began buying eBay stock)
GameStop cash on hand: ~$9.4 billion (as of Jan 31, 2026)
Committed financing: up to $20 billion, TD Securities
Financing condition: investment-grade rating from 2 of 3 agencies
eBay board response: rejected, "neither credible nor attractive"
GameStop stake as of Jul 18, 2026: ~9.8% (~43.4M shares, largest holder)eBay’s Board Says the Offer Is “Neither Credible Nor Attractive”
eBay’s board rejected GameStop’s offer within days of it becoming public. In a letter to Cohen, eBay board chairman Paul Pressler called the proposal “neither credible nor attractive,” citing uncertainty around GameStop’s acquisition financing and the leverage and operational risk that combining the two companies would create, according to CNBC’s reporting on the rejection. Credit ratings agency Moody’s separately said the acquisition, if it went through, would be “credit negative” for eBay because of the increased debt load.
The size mismatch alone raised eyebrows on Wall Street. At the time of the May bid, GameStop’s own market capitalization stood at roughly $10.4 billion — meaning a company worth about a fifth of its target was proposing to acquire and run it. eBay, for its part, was already in the middle of its own turnaround built around collectibles and luxury resale, with its shares up roughly 24% year-to-date even before GameStop’s approach. In his CNBC interview disclosing the bid, Cohen acknowledged the unusual dynamic, telling anchors “We are just starting,” and explaining GameStop’s decision to go public with an unsolicited offer rather than negotiate privately first: “There’s only one way to approach something like this,” he said, alluding to what he described as conflicted incentives on eBay’s own board and management team.
GameStop Just Became eBay’s Largest Shareholder
Rather than walk away after the rejection, GameStop kept buying. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing disclosed on July 18, 2026 showed GameStop had nearly doubled its position to approximately 9.8% of eBay — about 43.4 million shares, worth roughly $5 billion, making GameStop eBay’s single largest shareholder. That stake alone is worth close to half of GameStop’s own market capitalization. The same week, Cohen said he had opened talks with eBay’s other large institutional shareholders directly, a pressure tactic aimed at forcing the board back to the table without a formal tender offer or proxy fight — at least for now.
On Bloomberg TV, Cohen was unambiguous about his intentions going forward: “We’re coming for eBay one way or another,” he said, declining to say whether GameStop would raise its per-share offer. A July 20, 2026 Forbes analysis described the move as GameStop “doubling down” on the pursuit rather than retreating, and noted that the stake increase gives Cohen outsized influence over eBay’s shareholder base regardless of whether the board ever formally re-engages.
The Numbers Behind Cohen’s “Irrelevant” Claim
Cohen’s dismissal of physical games is not just rhetoric — it is backed by GameStop’s own first-quarter fiscal 2026 results, reported in early June. Total net sales reached $835.3 million, up 14.0% year-over-year from $732.4 million. Net income hit a company record of $389.6 million, roughly 8.7 times the $44.8 million reported in the same quarter a year earlier, and GameStop announced a new $2 billion share buyback program. Those results also included a $268 million unrealized gain tied to GameStop’s own eBay stock holdings.
The more telling number is the composition of that revenue, first reported by Shacknews from GameStop’s own SEC filing. Collectibles — trading cards, toys, and pop-culture merchandise — generated $348.9 million, or 41.8% of total revenue, up 64.9% year-over-year and now GameStop’s single largest category, ahead of hardware for the first time. Software, meaning physical and digital game sales combined, brought in $152.7 million, just 18.3% of revenue, down 13.0% from the prior year.
| Revenue Segment | Q1 FY2026 | % of Total | Q1 FY2025 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collectibles | $348.9M | 41.8% | $211.5M (28.9%) | +64.9% |
| Hardware & Accessories | $333.7M | 39.9% | n/a | -3.4% |
| Software (physical + digital) | $152.7M | 18.3% | n/a | -13.0% |
| Total net sales | $835.3M | 100% | $732.4M | +14.0% |
Cohen Walks Away From a $35 Billion Pay Package
The eBay pursuit has already cost Cohen something concrete. In late June 2026, GameStop confirmed that Cohen had given up a performance-based compensation package, introduced in January 2026, that could have paid him as much as $35 billion in stock if GameStop hit a $100 billion market capitalization and $10 billion in annual EBITDA. According to CNBC’s reporting, Cohen framed the move as keeping leadership focused on operating performance and the eBay deal rather than a personal payout, saying he would instead take only performance-based compensation if he became CEO of a combined GameStop-eBay.
Whatever the motivation, the optics matter: a CEO walking away from a multibillion-dollar potential bonus to chase an acquisition that the target company’s own board has already called not credible is the kind of detail that keeps this story in business headlines well outside gaming press.
A Familiar Playbook: Ryan Cohen’s Bed Bath & Beyond History
This is not Cohen’s first unsolicited push into a struggling retailer far from his original business. Cohen made his fortune founding online pet retailer Chewy, then became GameStop’s chairman during the 2021 meme-stock frenzy before taking over as CEO in 2023. In between, his investment firm RC Ventures disclosed a 9.8% stake in Bed Bath & Beyond in March 2022, worth roughly $150 million, and pushed the home-goods retailer’s board for changes. Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2023; its brand name was later acquired by Overstock.com, which rebranded itself as Beyond.
The $47.2 Million Lawsuit
Cohen’s Bed Bath & Beyond position has followed him. The company that once bore that name is suing Cohen and RC Ventures to recover $47.2 million in what it calls “short-swing” trading profits — insider-trading-adjacent claims that apply when a holder of more than 10% of a company’s stock buys and sells shares within a six-month window. A federal judge ruled that Cohen must face that lawsuit rather than have it dismissed. Cohen, whose net worth Forbes estimates at roughly $4.3 billion, has not been convicted of wrongdoing, and the case remains in litigation — but it is a direct, recent precedent for an activist campaign by Cohen into a distressed legacy retailer that ended in bankruptcy rather than a turnaround, and it is the exact comparison skeptics are now drawing with the eBay bid.
What Wall Street and Analysts Are Saying
Reaction outside GameStop’s own shareholder base has ranged from skeptical to openly dismissive. A Globe and Mail business commentary called the bid “audacious, delusional and cringeworthy,” arguing that GameStop’s financing math “gets fuzzy” once the 50-50 cash-and-stock structure is combined with the credit-rating condition attached to the TD Securities commitment. The same piece flagged Cohen’s plan to route eBay order fulfillment through roughly 1,600 GameStop stores as a “peculiar strategic move” that runs against, rather than with, the online-marketplace model that made eBay valuable in the first place.
Kotaku’s coverage of the stake increase described business reporters covering the deal as “incredulous” about its financial logic, while noting Cohen has waved off the criticism by arguing his competitors do not face the same level of scrutiny for comparable moves. Notably, HotHardware’s coverage of the “irrelevant” comments emphasized that even skeptics agree on one point: GameStop’s underlying financial position — record profit, a fresh $2 billion buyback, and a still-large cash pile even after a $500 million personal pledge from Cohen — gives it more staying power to keep pursuing eBay than most activist campaigns ever have.
GameStop vs. eBay, by the Numbers
The scale gap between bidder and target is central to why this deal has drawn so much attention. GameStop is proposing to acquire and personally run a company roughly four to five times its own size, financed heavily with newly issued stock in the smaller company.
| Metric | GameStop | eBay |
|---|---|---|
| Market capitalization | ~$10.4 billion | ~$48 billion |
| Q1 FY2026 revenue | $835.3M (+14.0% YoY) | Not covered in this report |
| Stock performance (YTD 2026) | Volatile, deal-driven | +24% |
| Core business today | Collectibles (41.8% of revenue) | Online marketplace, collectibles & luxury resale push |
| Physical retail footprint | ~1,600 stores | None (online-only) |
| GameStop’s ownership stake | — | ~9.8% (largest shareholder) |
The overlap between the two companies’ strategies is easy to miss but important: eBay’s own recent stock gains are built on a pivot toward collectibles and luxury resale — the exact category now driving GameStop’s growth. Cohen is not proposing to diversify GameStop away from collectibles by buying eBay; he is proposing to combine two companies chasing the same trend from different starting points, betting that GameStop’s physical authentication network and eBay’s marketplace infrastructure are worth more together than apart.
The Bigger Picture: Sony’s Disc Exit and the Death of Physical Games
Cohen’s comments cannot be separated from the industry backdrop that prompted them. Sony has confirmed it will end physical PlayStation disc production for games released after January 2028, with digital downloads already accounting for roughly 85% of full-game PlayStation sales. That shift has already reshaped the secondhand market GameStop was built on — a market this site has previously reported could be worth as much as $7.2 billion and is now facing structural decline. Sony’s digital-storefront strategy also faces its own legal pressure, with the PlayStation Store sued in four countries over licensing terms worth an estimated $2.7 billion combined.
Even Grand Theft Auto 6 — the game Cohen deflected a question about — is skipping a meaningful physical-first strategy, with pre-orders already live digitally ahead of its November 19, 2026 console-exclusive launch. Fan pushback has not been silent: a Change.org petition opposing the death of physical media has passed 330,000 signatures. Cohen’s “irrelevant” comment reads, in that light, less like a surprising admission and more like a company that has already accepted an outcome much of the gaming public is still fighting.
Timeline: How We Got Here
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| January 2026 | GameStop unveils a $35B pay package for Cohen tied to a $100B market cap and $10B EBITDA target |
| February 4, 2026 | GameStop begins building its position in eBay stock |
| May 4, 2026 | Cohen discloses a 5% eBay stake and unsolicited $55.5B bid on CNBC’s Squawk Box |
| May 12, 2026 | eBay’s board rejects the bid as “neither credible nor attractive” |
| Early June 2026 | GameStop reports record Q1 FY2026 profit; collectibles overtake hardware as top revenue segment |
| June 23-25, 2026 | Cohen forgoes the $35B pay package to focus on the eBay pursuit |
| July 16, 2026 | GameStop announces an UberEats delivery partnership; Cohen tells Bloomberg physical games are “totally irrelevant” and GameStop is “coming for eBay one way or another” |
| July 18, 2026 | SEC filing shows GameStop’s eBay stake near 9.8%, making it eBay’s largest shareholder |
| July 20, 2026 | Forbes reports GameStop is “doubling down” as Cohen escalates the pursuit |
What a Combined GameStop-eBay Could Look Like
Cohen has sketched, in pieces across multiple interviews, what he thinks a combined company would actually do. The core pitch is turning eBay into a bigger player in resale and collectibles by pairing its online marketplace and payments infrastructure — what Cohen has called “eBay’s rails” — with GameStop’s physical retail network and its buy-sell-trade expertise in trading cards, a category GameStop already knows well from its own collectibles surge. He has also pointed to live commerce and digital marketplaces for in-game items as growth areas the combined company could pursue that neither business currently owns outright.
The Trading-Card Store Pitch
The most concrete piece of the plan involves GameStop’s remaining roughly 1,600 stores, which the company says sit within a 15-minute drive of about 80% of the U.S. population. Cohen’s pitch is to turn those locations into physical authentication and pickup hubs for high-value eBay trades — verifying a graded trading card or collectible in person before a sale completes online, something neither eBay nor pure online resellers can currently offer at that scale. It is also, as critics have pointed out, a bet that runs somewhat against the direction eBay’s own business has moved: away from physical friction, not toward it. GameStop has closed more than 1,300 stores over the past two fiscal years even as it argues the ones that remain are a strategic asset.
Predictions: What Happens Next
The standoff likely continues through the rest of 2026 without a formal deal. eBay’s board has shown no sign of re-engaging, and GameStop has not filed a tender offer or launched a proxy fight — Cohen’s stake-building looks more like sustained pressure than an imminent takeover.
GameStop’s non-gaming pivot deepens regardless of the eBay outcome. With collectibles already at 41.8% of revenue and growing nearly 65% year-over-year, expect GameStop to keep expanding trading-card and collectibles floor space at the expense of game software, independent of whether the acquisition ever closes.
Financing terms, not price, remain the real obstacle. The investment-grade rating condition on GameStop’s $20 billion TD Securities commitment is a harder constraint than the per-share offer price — expect any credible next move from GameStop to address the credit-rating and leverage concerns Moody’s and eBay’s board both flagged, not simply raise the bid.
Physical game retail’s share of GameStop’s business keeps shrinking. With Sony’s disc exit beginning in 2028 and digital already at 85% of PlayStation full-game sales, software’s 18.3% share of GameStop revenue is more likely to fall further than to stabilize, even with a strong GTA 6 launch in November.
Scrutiny of Cohen’s dual role only intensifies. With an active $47.2 million lawsuit tied to his Bed Bath & Beyond stake still unresolved, expect both financial media and eBay’s board to keep drawing the parallel between that campaign and the current eBay pursuit as a reason for caution.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did GameStop’s CEO actually say about physical games?
In a July 16, 2026 Bloomberg interview, Ryan Cohen called physical video game sales “totally, totally irrelevant” to GameStop’s business and said Sony’s move to end physical PlayStation disc production “doesn’t matter at all” to the company.
How big is GameStop’s bid for eBay?
GameStop offered $125 per share in a 50% cash, 50% stock deal valuing eBay at approximately $55.5 billion, first disclosed in May 2026.
Why did eBay’s board reject the offer?
eBay chairman Paul Pressler called the proposal “neither credible nor attractive,” citing uncertainty in GameStop’s financing plan and the leverage and operational risk of combining the two companies. Moody’s separately said the deal would be “credit negative” for eBay.
How much of eBay does GameStop now own?
As of a July 18, 2026 SEC filing, GameStop’s stake stood at approximately 9.8% (about 43.4 million shares, worth roughly $5 billion), making it eBay’s largest shareholder.
What share of GameStop’s revenue comes from game software today?
Just 18.3% in Q1 fiscal 2026 ($152.7 million), down 13.0% year-over-year. Collectibles now make up 41.8% of revenue, the largest single category.
Did Ryan Cohen really give up a $35 billion pay package?
Yes. In late June 2026, GameStop confirmed Cohen forwent a performance-based package that could have paid up to $35 billion in stock if GameStop hit a $100 billion market cap and $10 billion in EBITDA, saying he would instead take only performance-based pay if he leads a combined GameStop-eBay.
Has Ryan Cohen tried a campaign like this before?
Yes. Cohen’s RC Ventures took a 9.8% stake in Bed Bath & Beyond in March 2022; the retailer filed for bankruptcy in April 2023 and is now suing Cohen to recover $47.2 million in short-swing trading profits, a case a federal judge has ruled he must face.
Could the GameStop-eBay deal actually happen?
It’s uncertain. eBay’s board has not re-engaged, and GameStop has not launched a formal tender offer or proxy fight. Analysts have flagged the financing structure and the investment-grade rating condition on GameStop’s committed financing as the biggest open obstacles, independent of price.
