GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has withdrawn a performance award worth up to $35 billion so he can concentrate fully on the company’s bid to acquire eBay. GameStop confirmed the move in a press release on Tuesday 23 June 2026, removing the proposed CEO Performance Award from its proxy statement at Cohen’s own request. Shareholders had been due to vote on the package ahead of the company’s annual meeting on 7 July.
The decision strips away a governance flashpoint at the moment Cohen is trying to convince eBay’s board, and his own investors, that he is serious about a takeover of a company more than five times GameStop’s size.
What The $35 Billion Pay Package Was
GameStop unveiled the compensation package in January 2026. It hinged entirely on a turnaround, requiring Cohen to lift the company’s market value more than tenfold to $100 billion and grow adjusted profits to $10 billion. Hitting those milestones would have handed Cohen a total of 171.5 million share options, a stake worth in excess of $35 billion.
The award had become a target for critics. GameStop’s own Q1 FY26 disclosure flagged the risk of dilution should the options vest and be exercised, the standard SEC way of noting that Cohen could end up owning a far larger slice of the company. GameStop noted in a filing that Cohen would not have received the windfall purely for acquiring eBay, as his performance hurdles stood to be adjusted to reflect a stock-based acquisition.
Cohen said he wants GameStop’s leadership fully focused on the company’s operating performance and the proposed eBay acquisition.
The eBay Bid And The Rejection
Cohen surfaced the offer in May 2026, an unsolicited bid of nearly $56 billion structured as 50% cash and 50% GameStop stock, with Cohen acting as dual CEO of both companies. eBay’s board rejected it just over a week later. Chairman Paul S. Pressler said the board had concluded the proposal was “neither credible nor attractive”, citing financing doubts.
The financing gap was the sticking point. Between GameStop’s market cap, around $9 billion in cash reserves, and a $20 billion financing confidence letter from TD Securities, the company was still close to $16 billion short of the $56 billion price tag. A confidence letter is a bank’s expression of belief that it could raise the money, well short of an actual commitment to deliver it.
Why Cohen Is Pushing Forward
Cohen has shown no sign of backing off after the rejection. On the “All-In” podcast released on Tuesday, the Chewy billionaire cofounder laid out his case for the tie-up. He pointed to the opportunity to cut eBay’s bloated costs, to turn it into a live commerce player by using GameStop’s roughly 1,600 US stores to fulfil orders and act as studios for content creators, and to expand into digital collectibles by building a marketplace for in-game digital items.
Cohen said he would put $500 million of his own money into the deal to demonstrate his conviction. “When you look at how much the businesses together make sense, and then you look at the fact that it’s within my circle of competence, I can’t stop thinking about it,” he said. In a 19 June interview with Piers Morgan, Cohen declined to rule out a hostile takeover, meaning he could attempt to buy the business against the board’s wishes.
How GameStop’s Results Frame The Bid
Cohen has an operating story to point to. For the first quarter ended 2 May 2026, GameStop posted net sales of $835.3 million, up 14% from $732.4 million a year earlier, buoyed by strong collectibles demand. The board also approved a new $2 billion share repurchase program earlier this month.
The valuation gap, however, has not moved. As of publication, eBay carries a market cap of roughly $49 billion with shares around $110.56, while GameStop trades near $21.36 per share for a total market cap of $9.58 billion, over five times lower than its target. Cohen joined GameStop’s board in 2021 and became CEO in 2023, steering the company back to profitability through aggressive cost cutting that included shuttering hundreds of stores.
What The Skeptics Are Saying
The bid has drawn prominent doubters. Michael Burry of “The Big Short” fame revealed in early May that he had sold his GameStop stake, skeptical of the eBay deal, and suggested Cohen was pursuing the heavily dilutive transaction partly because it would help him hit the market cap and profit milestones tied to his payout. Removing that award now answers that specific criticism directly.
GameStop said it would release additional materials regarding the proposed acquisition this week, including a detailed presentation of the strategic rationale and operational plan for the combined company. The company stressed the latest announcement is for informational purposes only and is not a formal offer. With shareholders set to meet on 7 July and Cohen refusing to rule out a hostile approach, the next round of details will test whether his decision to walk away from $35 billion shifts the odds in his favour.