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>> One of the biggest potential deals in

technology is GameStop's attempt to buy

eBay. In May, the video game retailer

and its CEO Ryan Cohen launched an

unsolicited $56 billion bid for the

e-commerce platform. eBay rejected the

offer, calling it neither credible nor

attractive. Since then, Cohen has

scrapped a controversial multi-billion

dollar pay package and GameStop

shareholders have approved increasing

the company's authorized share count,

giving it more flexibility to pursue

strategic transactions. So, where does

the deal stand now? Ryan Cohen joins us

on Bloomberg television and radio. Ryan,

thank you for your time and good

morning. Welcome to Bloomberg Tech. on

the

long list of things that have happened

since May. Our audience just has a very

simple question for you, which is what's

changed, what's developed in that period

of time.

>> There has been a uh a complete failure

by the media to explain why this

transaction makes sense. And so, number

one,

my track record, Chewy and GameStop, it

speaks for themselves. my alignment with

shareholders. I'm putting $500 million

of my own money into this transaction.

The high margin growth opportunities for

this business within live commerce,

which the company has not been doing

well and using GameStop stores as nodes

for both the marketplace and live

commerce is huge cuz the business today

in live commerce is tiny. Then building

out a digital marketplace for in-game

items. Those are just like some of the

high growth opportunities within the

business. And then there is the cost

takeout opportunity. I've committed to

taking out $2 billion within the first

year. And that's just the beginning. So

this whole narrative that the business

is going to be too leveraged is a

fantasy invented by the media and it's

just simply not true.

on the banking side.

Let's go there.

You lined up some banking support,

right? And I think that one of the

concerns that Moody's put out there as

an example was the credit rating and the

creditworthiness of the combined entity.

So again another question from the

audience is explain the banking support

that you've you've secured since May but

also that concern that the debt

component of it what the the credit

negative outlook would be for a combined

entity based on the plan that you've

just outlined.

>> We have a highly confident letter from

our bankers. We have a lot of parties

that are interested in this transaction

and the most important thing

ultimately if we can't get the debt then

it means that eBay can't get the debt

and eBay can get the debt. So this

entire narrative

is simply not true.

>> I didn't explain that question very well

Ryan if if I'm self-reflective honest

about it. So I'm just going to go back

to it. Your financing letter is from TD,

right? And it was widely reported to

depend on the combined company

maintaining investment grade credit

rating. And then Moody's came out and

said that this deal would be credit

negative for the combined company. Have

you taken steps to address that?

Nobody has reached out to us including

the credit agencies but the pro-forma

company is going to be investment grade.

We talked at the beginning of of of the

conversation about shareholders

improving increasing sorry the the

company's authorized share count. Does

that allow you to do something new that

you couldn't have otherwise done in the

context of the eBay deal?

Yeah, I mean we Yes, it does.

>> And what would that be?

>> Buy the business, buy eBay.

I posted on X that you were coming on

the show and and you know in the context

of of what you've done

with financial mechanics of late, you

know, the question that existing

GameStop shareholders sent to me over

and over again is, you know, you're

asking them to accept pretty significant

dilution and and they're basically

asking like what's the payoff for them

in accepting that dilution?

>> There's different forms of dilution.

Most dilution

is dilutive to shareholders. When you're

buying a business

and I've committed to pulling $2 billion

of costs out, so if you do the math, I'm

buying a business for 56 billion.

And the business is forecasted to make

over 3.5 billion.

That's uh that's the consensus for 2026

plus what uh what I would be pulling out

in cost. So you're at over 5.5 billion

of IBIDA and then the ability to take

this platform and build a much much

larger business.

The upside is huge. So I wouldn't go and

buy a business if I didn't think I can

take it from 56 billion and turn it into

multiples larger. So it's accretive to

shareholders but most of the time when

companies are issuing shares it's

dilutive and earnings per share goes

down. In this case it's a different

story but most of the time you have

management teams a good example is this

company that collect tons of risk-free

compensation and they're not aligned

with shareholders. In this case that's

not the case.

>> You have the letter from TD. You said

earlier you were going to put $500

million of your own money into this

transaction. Outside of that, is there

any other financing support, any other

parties that since midmay you've you've

pulled into it?

>> We've had a lot of parties come to us.

Uh, and there's been a lot of interest

from the capital markets.

>> We're live on Bloomberg television and

Bloomberg radio with Ryan Cohen, the CEO

of GameStop. We're talking about uh Ryan

and GameStop's bid to buy eBay. Really

simple question. Has anyone from eBay,

the management team or the board

reached back out to you or responded to

you in this interim period?

No, I hope they do, but um

they're entrenched and they're hiding

behind their their adviserss.

If I go to teddy.com on any browser, I'm

diverted back to gamestop.com.

Why

>> I'm focused on GameStop?

>> The root of the question is, let's say

that you proceed with this.

There's a very wide range of of opinion,

speculation basically. Why does Ryan

Cohen want to buy eBay? at one extreme

is the idea that you just want to be the

CEO of eBay rather than than GameStop.

At the other end is the idea that you

have a a bigger plan, a master plan. You

kind of talked about it a little bit

earlier,

but what's the reality here? What is the

bigger picture for a combined entity or

referencing teddy.com?

some there's some history there, but but

a sort of conglomerate, a holding

company.

>> E eBay is a platform

that I can build into something much

more profitable and much larger. the

ability to take

GameStop stores and our experience in

gaming and refurbished tech and

collectibles combined with eBay and be a

leader in live commerce, build out an

in-game digital marketplace,

use the stores for same day

authentication, and ultimately pull down

pull out significant cost. And none of

these things come at the expense of

growth. It's actually the opposite. The

more efficient you get, the easier it is

to grow.

It makes too much sense. So that's why I

want a business. That's why I want to

buy it. It's not that complicated. There

is such overlap between the businesses.

And my experience is in e-commerce,

>> right? Are you improved prepared to

improve the offer, Ryan?

I'm not going to negotiate against

myself,

>> but that might be what it takes.

>> We'll see what happens. Ed,

>> you've talked about this a little bit

recently. A lot of people point out to

me, you've done a number of interviews

in quick succession, right?

What happens if eBay just keeps saying

no?

Ultimately, it's going to be the owners

of the business that are going to decide

who is more competent, who's more

aligned with shareholders,

and who's more capable of building a

much much larger business. So, the

management team can only hide for so

long. And I would love for this to be a

collaborative process and a consensual

process. That's my preference. That's

number one. But if that doesn't happen,

then it's going to be shareholders

decision cuz they're the owners of the

business.

>> Right. I do want to talk a lot more

about the GameStop business, a lot more

about eBay, and we're going to take a

break and come back and do that. Talk

about what's really happening. I have a

final question from the audience that I

I promised I would put to you and it's

from GameStop shareholders. A lot of

GameStop shareholders have asked about

the warrants that expire in October. You

know, another recent or relatively

recent financial transaction from the

company. What should they expect happens

with those warrants between now and and

October of this year?

>> I don't have a crystal ball.

U I can't answer that question.

Okay. Their expectation is that when

they expire, I think the date's October

26th, is that's the outcome.

>> Ed,

people that have invested alongside me

when it comes to Chewy or GameStop and

me committing uh $500 million into eBay,

they've done they've done very very

well.

So, I don't have a crystal ball. I can't

predict the future, nor can anyone that

I've ever met. But GameStop is a

business that

was on the brink of bankruptcy and

everybody was betting against it for

good reason. And now the company is

making more money than it's ever made in

its history. Ryan Cohen, CEO of

GameStop, you're sticking around. We're

going to take a break and then we're

going to talk about that business,

GameStop, and what it's doing. We'll be

right back. This is Bloomberg Tech.

Okay, we're live on Bloomberg Tech with

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen. Let's put the

eBay deal, potential deal aside for a

moment. Whatever happens with eBay,

GameStop's still one of the biggest

names in gaming. I get a lot of

questions about that. And Ryan, if if

you're up for it, let's start with Grand

Theft Auto 6. You know, it's expected to

be one of the biggest entertainment

launches ever. You go to gamestop.com,

pre-orders are available. What are you

seeing? what are customers telling you.

>> Ed, I want to go back and talk about

eBay.

>> I want to know if you wanted to build if

you wanted to build the trillion dollar

business and

you had the existing management team,

>> guy running the company, makes 30

million bucks a year, hasn't bought a

single share in the open market, and

then you have someone that's committed

500 million. My me, we don't have to

talk in hypotheticals.

Who's more competent and capable of

building a larger business?

>> I want you to look your viewers in the

eyes and tell them,

>> are you going to bet on an entrenched

management team running the business or

me, someone that went headto-head

against Amazon, selling 30 lb bags of

dog food, turned around a very tough

situation at GameStop, and now the

company's making lots of money.

>> I really want to know your opinion.

Ryan, I'm not going to I'm not here to

answer the question. The audience

doesn't care what I think about this

deal. They're here for you. But the link

to Grand Theft Auto 6, for what it's

worth, GameStop has 2200 stores across

the jurisdictions it operates in, right?

It sells hardware, video games, consoles

that are going discless at some point.

You need to hire people for those

stores. People are looking at what they

know about the proposed structure of

this deal that's on the table and trying

to understand in part what you talked

about earlier, right? Taking the costs

out of the combined business to

understand what the plan is here, what

the master plan is for the combined

entity. So, so let's go with that. Like

what is this the synergistic play here

between eBay, the e-commerce business,

and GameStop, which right now is a

brickandmortar business selling video

games, consoles, collectibles.

We are going to unlock live commerce.

We're going to use the stores for same

day authentication. I'll give you an

example. Let's just talk about trading

cards right now, right? The biggest

issue on eBay is fraud. So they've done

really well on authenticity guarantee

because you know when you buy an item

now and it's got the AG certification,

it's legit. It's going through a

centralized model right now. So the

seller's shipping it costs a lot of

money. There's a few fulfillment centers

takes some time and then it goes to the

buyer. can ultimately go once these

businesses are together. We've got 1,600

nodes. They're within a 15minute drive

of 80% of the population and you can

authenticate the item same day for

cheaper. So that's just one item. Live

commerce, the business is getting

smoked. Live commerce is a trillion

dollar addressable market. It's really,

really big in Asia. There's some

competitors in the US that are doing

very, very well. eBay is not doing very

well. So the ability to go and use our

nodes for as studios and as fulfillment

and logistics for content creators is

huge. And then we have a bit of

experience in gaming when it comes to

the buy trade and sell by the the buy,

sell, and trade model. So the ability

for us to use eBay's rails to build out

an in-game digital marketplace is huge.

So those are just some of the

opportunities

to take this business and build it into

something that the existing management

team on a standalone basis can never do.

So the situation is collectibles are

clearly a central part of the plan right

if this deal goes through the combined

entity

on gaming. It sounds like you are

preparing for a world where gaming is

discless. There will be a trade in

secondhand trade in. But that this is

the umbrella point, right? Like if the

hardware makers Sony, Xbox are

reportedly moving to discus on the

console side, future game launches are

digital only. Where does that fit in for

your business plan in the combined

entity?

>> It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at

all. software. It mattered in the past.

Software today makes up less than 12% of

the business and collectibles makes up

over half the business. So, it's totally

totally irrelevant.

>> Is there anything that you learned from

the NFT marketplace uh experiment at

GameStop that that you you think you can

put into practice if the deal goes

through in this combined entity? What

what was the takeaway for you from that?

>> What does that mean?

>> GameStop has looked at digital business

lines outside of the physical world.

What did you learn from GameStop looking

at those markets?

>> Do you know how much money GameStop is

making today?

>> Please.

>> 143 million in Q1. Highest operating

earnings in the company's history. They

were surprised at the strength of

earnings recently,

>> but again, you know, the audience

>> because everybody in the everybody in

the media wants GameStop to fail.

Explain that to me, Ed. Why everybody in

the media in the mainstream media wants

GameStop to fail? You've got there's

nothing more American than GameStop

committing its balance sheet and this

company which is a great American

company eBay being aligned with

shareholders.

That's how this country was built is

risking

your own capital and if the business

succeeds you make money and if the

business fails you lose a lot of money.

And what I want to understand is why

everybody wants GameStop to fail,

both its core business and in this

transaction.

What world do we live in where we're

betting against we're we're rooting for

the the an entrenched management team

that has no skin in the game and and

someone that's risking their own

capital. And there's nothing more

American than that.

You want us to fail. I want to

understand that.

>> Ryan, I'm a technology journalist. I

host the tech show on Bloomberg. When

this deal broke in May, I and my team

invited you onto the show. And it took a

number of months. You're now here on the

show. And in advance of you coming on

the show, I posted on social media that

you were coming on the show. I always

give our audience the opportunity to ask

their questions. That's what we're doing

here, giving you an opportunity to

present. I think that the the one

outstanding thing is people asking when

will they see a sort of codified plan

from you, a business plan presented for

this combined entity on paper. You

you've explained a bit of it in the

course of this conversation, but that's

that's why the audience is here to

listen to you to explain the future of a

business that is a combination of

GameStop and eBay.

Well, I'm going to bring that plan

directly to shareholders. It's uh it's

not going to be through a TV show. You

can count on it. It's going to be

directly to shareholders.

>> And do you have a timeline for that,

Ryan?

>> We've had um an influx of parties that

have come to ask and they're interested

and in due course the the plan is going

to be made public, but

in the short term

>> involves building a much larger

business. I mean, you know,

what what is the goal of business? What

is my goal? I own a lot of stock and I

don't have any perverse incentive. So,

it's to make the business

a lot more profitable and to maximize

shareholder value. So, that's the plan.

It's not that complicated. And I've

spoken about huge growth areas within

cutting costs. That's just short term,

but live commerce and building out an

in-game digital marketplace. So, I've

shared that with you, but everyone in

the past have said, "What's the business

plan?" What's the business plan? But

they only do that with GameStop for

whatever reason. Well, you know what the

business plan is? It's to make money.

GameStop just reported its highest

earnings in the company's history with a

fraction of the stores and everybody in

the media said GameStop was going to

fail. So, the plan is to make more

money. The plan is to maximize

shareholder value. Am I going to go and

share my proprietary plan and every

single detail and give it out to my

competitors? That that'd be a pretty

stupid thing to do.

Ryan, we have literally 30 seconds left

in the show. Again, are you prepared to

raise your offer for eBay? You set out

your vision, but the action you're

willing to take to do it.

>> I'm not going to call my shots, but

we're coming for eBay one way or

another.

>> Ryan Cohen, CEO of GameStop, an extended

conversation on Bloomberg Tech. Thank

you for your time.