GameStop, which has drawn significant attention from domestic and international investors as a meme stock, has officially announced a proposal to acquire eBay. However, the declaration to swallow a much larger company has drawn criticism that it is merely a performance intended to boost its stock price.

On the 3rd (local time), GameStop issued a press release announcing its proposal to acquire the e-commerce platform eBay for $55.5 billion (approximately ₩82 trillion). GameStop reportedly submitted a proposal to the board to acquire all outstanding eBay shares at $125 per share, representing a premium of approximately 20% over the closing price of $104.07 on the previous trading day. The acquisition would be funded 50% in cash and 50% in GameStop stock.

However, the financing structure has raised concerns. GameStop holds approximately $9.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents and has secured a commitment for up to $20 billion in additional financing from TD Securities, a subsidiary of TD Bank. While this provides the $29.4 billion needed for the cash portion, the remaining half requires GameStop—which has a market capitalization of $12 billion—to issue a massive amount of new shares.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen also presented a plan to cut costs by approximately $2 billion annually following the acquisition. The plan aims to achieve this by reducing excessive spending in areas such as sales and marketing, product development, and corporate operations and management. Additionally, GameStop cites the potential to leverage its widespread physical retail infrastructure to build a physical network that online-only competitors cannot offer as a key synergy of the merger.

Critics, however, point out fundamental differences between the two companies: eBay is a high-margin, fee-based platform, while GameStop operates on a retail model of buying and reselling used goods. There are concerns that a merger between companies with such disparate revenue and growth structures will struggle to produce meaningful results. Furthermore, given GameStop's history of closing large numbers of stores while engaging in activities far removed from its core business—such as accumulating Bitcoin—many view this proposal as a performative move aimed at inflating its stock price.

Meanwhile, while Cohen stated that this proposal is only the beginning, he also signaled his willingness to take the matter directly to shareholders and initiate a proxy fight should the eBay board reject the offer.