GameStop boosts eBay stake to 6.55% after e-commerce platform rejected its $55.5 billion offer
GameStop has only had to spend around $10 million to gain economic exposure to about 29.1 million shares of eBay.
Ryan Cohen is not taking “no” for an answer.
After eBay rebuffed GameStop’s $55.5 billion unsolicited offer last week, a 13D report filing on Tuesday shows that the video game and collectibles retailer increased its stake in eBay to 6.65% from 5% via options. That is, GameStop has entered into put/call pair trades (selling calls and buying puts) with TD Securities to more efficiently amass a position.
So far, GameStop has only had to spend around $10 million to gain economic exposure to about 29.1 million shares of the e-commerce platform, which currently has a market cap of roughly $51.5 billion. And it’s enjoying a tidy paper gain in the process: the call options bought have risen as eBay’s stock jumped on news of the bid, while the value of put options sold has declined.
In an interview with ProCap’s Anthony Pompliano last week, Cohen said, “I want the business,” and that “we’re going to do whatever we obviously need to do in order to bring this proposal in front of the true owners of the business.”
Prediction markets currently imply about a 20% chance of GameStop acquiring eBay this year, per Kalshi.
Read more: The real problems with using GameStop shares to try to purchase eBay
