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- Prediction Market
GameStop's eBay Bid Failed, But Ryan Cohen Still Moved Markets
by
Annie Nader
Prediction Markets Analyst
May 19, 2026 7:41 AM CUT
GameStop proposes to buy eBay for approximately $56 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, with CEO Ryan Cohen stating he is prepared to take the bid directly to shareholders if eBay's board is unreceptive.
GameStop proposes to buy eBay for approximately $56 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, with CEO Ryan Cohen stating he is prepared to take the bid directly to shareholders if eBay's board is unreceptive.Nikolas Kokovlis—Getty Images
by
Annie Nader
Prediction Markets Analyst
May 19, 2026 7:41 AM CUT
An unsolicited bid for a company worth roughly four times as much, scant financing details, spooked shareholders, and a swift rejection would typically trigger a crisis of confidence. For GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, it seemed to barely register.
On May 3, GameStop proposed buying eBay for $56 billion in a cash-and-stock deal. Early this morning, eBay rejected GameStop's bid, calling the proposal "neither credible nor attractive." What took place in the interim, though, was a lesson in how one executive's voice can influence trading decisions on prediction-market platforms.
GameStop's eBay Bid Falls Short
When Cohen announced GameStop's audacious ploy to take over eBay, Wall Street asked the obvious question: how does a company valued at roughly $10 billion plan to acquire one valued at roughly $48 billion? The next day, Cohen appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box in a now-viral interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin. When pressed for information on how GameStop would finance the $56 billion bid, Cohen was evasive: "It's on our website. It's half cash, half stock. But the details are on our website." The leather-jacket-wearing executive's curt answers and disaffected tone—reminiscent of a student who didn't complete the summer reading assignment—left Sorkin speechless, and slightly amused, throughout the segment.
The fallout from the bizarre CNBC appearance was immediate: GameStop's stock dropped by more than 10%, and key investor Michael Burry revealed he had sold his entire stake in the company. Cohen doubled down on his theatrics, announcing in an X post that he was selling stuff on eBay to pay for eBay.
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The eBay auction fits a well-established pattern of Cohen's. The Chewy co-founder bought a 13% stake in GameStop in 2020 before joining the company's board in 2021, helping spark the GameStop short squeeze in January of that year. The subreddit r/WallStreetBets, which gave rise to the meme-stock phenomenon and later inspired the film Dumb Money, dubbed Cohen the "Meme King." Some retail investors treated Cohen with near-religious reverence, often sifting through his posts for hidden meaning and treating cryptic one-liners as market signals.
The same cult following now has the Meme King wondering if he should turn his eBay auctioneer side hustle into a full-time gig: Cohen's 36 eBay items have amassed more than $125K in bids. While he's auctioning a few items with legitimate value, such as signed Randy Johnson and Willie Mays baseball cards, the majority of the listings look straight out of a hoarder's closet. One user even placed a $4,950 bid on a plain GameStop hat. So, when Cohen announced plans to acquire eBay, his meme-stock faithful naturally bought in—this time on prediction markets.
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On May 4, the day after GameStop's proposal was announced, markets titled "Will GameStop acquire eBay this year?" opened on Kalshi and Polymarket. The next morning, despite glaring acquisition obstacles, Kalshi's market was pricing the outcome with a 36.4% implied probability. The odds plummeted to as low as a 16.8% chance in the aftermath of that day's CNBC interview before settling back at 33.8% by night, with some speculating whether the Meme King's off-putting comments were yet another strategic move. Kalshi and Polymarket closed the eBay acquisition markets following today's rejected bid, but not before attracting more than $1.4 million in trading volume.
It's another measure of Cohen's market-moving power. Even after Wall Street insiders dismissed the bid as implausible, traders were still willing to place real-money wagers behind GameStop's success. The deal never came close, but for one week, Cohen managed to do, to some, what he's become notorious for: making speculation look like conviction.
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