GameStop's eBay Bid: Ryan Cohen Slams Sliding Metrics — Michael Burry Worries More About Debt Burden

• Cohen shared an image on X showing eBay’s declining buyers, GMV, and operating income alongside rising costs between fiscal 2020 and 2025. 
• The post showed eBay’s operating income falling from $2.64 billion to $2.28 billion between the period.
• eBay is yet to respond to GameStop’s offer.

GameStop Corp. (GME) CEO Ryan Cohen continued his relentless critique of eBay (EBAY), this time using several key financial and operating metrics, as the videogame retailer pursues its unsolicited bid to acquire the online marketplace.

EBAY’s Buyer Base And Sales Activity Shrink

Cohen’s chart posted on X showed drops in active buyers, sales volume, and operating profit, while operating costs increased during the same period. “Only in corporate America,” he said, adding a poop emoji.

The chart showed eBay’s active buyers fell from 165 million in 2020 to 135 million in 2025, an 18% drop. Its total gross merchandise volume (GMV) also declined from $87.6 billion to $79.6 billion.

eBay stock edged 0.6% lower overnight. 

Spotlight On EBAY’s Profitability 

The post said eBay’s operating profit fell from $2.64 billion in 2020 to $2.28 billion in 2025, while expenses rose from $4.46 billion to $5.65 billion despite having fewer users. 

The image also shed light on CEO compensation, listing cumulative executive pay of $144 million over the period shown. 

GameStop is planning a $56 billion acquisition of eBay and expects to save $2 billion annually within a year of the deal's completion, with Cohen as CEO of the merged company.  

Michael Burry Concerned About GME Debt Burden 

Last week, the “Big Short” investor Michael Burry, in his Substack post, questioned the logic behind the deal structure and warned of risks tied to heavy debt and shareholder dilution. “The debt level needed to get this deal done would likely take 7-10 years to pay down and even then only if all capital was directed to such a task,” said Burry. 

He further added that a compensation structure tied to market capitalization and earnings growth may encourage deal strategies that appear to expand valuation but, in actuality, increase dilution risk for shareholders. 

“Ryan is promising huge cost cuts and massive jumps in profitability. This also makes sense. It is the Wall Street playbook. If eBay doubles its EBIT margin of 20% to 40%, it would be on par with Meta and 50% better than Alphabet. But it would not get eBay to a spot where it could pay off the debt in a few years, as Ryan is promising, Burry said.”

Though GameStop’s board has endorsed the proposal unanimously, eBay’s directors are still reviewing the offer. 

What Are EBAY Retail Traders Saying? 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock changed to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ territory the previous day. 

A user asked, “Why would anyone give so much of a f*** if they weren't against it for a rather personal reason?”, and added, “so many parasites would be roasted in the acquisition of $EBAY short sellers, board members and hedge funds are the ones i'll be more than happy to hear about.”

Another user said,”$GME actually genius play by RC $EBAY takeover. Expose their ungodly amounts of wasted money to immediately become profitable under RC leadership.”

EBAY stock has gained over 23% year-to-date, and GME stock has increased 20%. 

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