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It’s been two months since eBay rejected GameStop’s acquisition bid, but the gaming retailer is not giving up. GameStop, which owned a 5% stake in eBay in early May, now owns a nearly 10% stake, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
As of Friday, GameStop owns more than 43 million shares of eBay stock, equivalent to 9.8%. That includes roughly 3.5 million the company bought between June 8 and June 15, for a price of $381 million, and 39 million shares it settled last week that were part of put/call pairs.
GameStop’s initial $56 billion bid to buy eBay in May was rejected, with eBay calling it “neither credible nor attractive” and touting a turnaround strategy that is working.
Since then, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has continued to push for the combination. The executive in late June asked the board to approve a measure that would drop his performance pay package in favor of focusing “on GameStop’s operating performance and its proposed eBay acquisition.” That measure was approved.
Cohen has also continued to give interviews about the deal — and record the transcripts in SEC filings. One such filing from a Thursday interview with Bloomberg Tech showed Cohen reiterating a plan to use GameStop’s stores as nodes for eBay’s marketplace and live commerce offerings.
During the conversation, Cohen said eBay’s management team and board had not engaged further with him. EBay did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Retail Dive.
“I would love for this to be a collaborative process and a consensual process. That’s my preference. That’s number one,” Cohen said during the interview. “But if that doesn’t happen, then it’s going to be shareholders’ decision because they’re the owners of the business.”
Asked if GameStop would consider raising its offer for eBay, Cohen said “I’m not going to call my shots, but we’re coming for eBay one way or another.”