Ryan Cohen Drops $35B Pay Package to Push GameStop's Hostile eBay Takeover Bid

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has withdrawn his proposed $35 billion compensation package, signaling he's willing to forgo a massive personal payday to focus entirely on acquiring eBay — a company more than five times GameStop's size with a market cap of roughly $48 billion. The move is a calculated reputational play: Cohen had faced sharp criticism that his pursuit of eBay was self-serving, designed to hit the market cap and profit milestones that would have triggered his 171.5 million share options.

The most prominent skeptic was Michael Burry — of "The Big Short" fame — who revealed he'd dumped his GameStop stake in early May, citing concern that the heavily dilutive deal was structured to benefit Cohen personally rather than shareholders. By pulling the pay package off the table before the July 7 annual meeting, Cohen removes that line of attack entirely, even as GameStop itself had argued in filings that a stock-based acquisition would have adjusted his performance hurdles anyway.

Cohen laid out his strategic vision for the deal on the "All-In" podcast, arguing that eBay's cost structure is bloated and ripe for cuts, and that combining the two companies creates genuine business logic. His pitch: use GameStop's roughly 1,600 U.S. stores as fulfillment hubs and live-commerce studios for content creators, while also building a marketplace for digital in-game collectibles. He pledged to put $500 million of his own money into the deal as a show of conviction.

eBay has already rejected Cohen's cash-and-stock offer, and its board appears resistant — but Cohen isn't backing down. In a June 19 interview with Piers Morgan, he declined to rule out a hostile takeover, suggesting he may try to go around the board directly to eBay shareholders. GameStop said it plans to release fresh details this week on its acquisition strategy and how it envisions running the combined entity.