GameStop Corp. chief executive Ryan Cohen declined to say if he planned to raise his US$56 billion offer for online auctioneer eBay Inc. , but said “we’re coming for eBay one way or another.” In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday, Cohen said he hopes to turn the combined company into a US$1 trillion business. Painting eBay’s management as complacent, Cohen said he’d use “Ebay’s rails” to build out a digital marketplace for video game items — an increasingly popular revenue model in the industry. He also sees strong synergies in the two companies’ collectables businesses — which, for GameStop, makes up about 42 per cent of revenue. GameStop locations could serve as hubs for authenticating trading cards, such as for Pokemon or sports — a rapidly growing business eBay has long been involved in, Cohen said. “Once these businesses are together, we’ve got 1,600 nodes,” for authenticating cards that are “within a 15 minute drive of maybe 80 per cent of the population.” EBay rejected Cohen’s proposal earlier this year. Through a spokesperson, the company declined to comment on Cohen’s comments. Who’s up and who’s down in Canadian retailHow shopping chatbots might transform retail Critics have questioned GameStop’s ability to purchase the much larger eBay, even with a “highly confident letter” from a bank. Investors have raised concerns about the amount of debt GameStop would have to take on to fund a deal. However, since the bid was announced in May, Cohen said he’s seen interest from lots of investors. “The pro forma company is going to be investment grade,” he said. Earlier this month, GameStop shareholders approved a massive increase in its authorized share count in anticipation of purchasing eBay. When pressed on additional details of his offer, Cohen didn’t elaborate, other than to say he’d eventually take the plan directly to shareholders. On whether that would include a higher offer, he said: “I’m not going to negotiate against myself.” Bloomberg.com
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen is ‘coming for eBay one way or another’
