GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen's $56B Plan to Take Over eBay
with Ryan Cohen
23 Jun 20265 min read50m
TL;DR
Ryan Cohen argues that eBay is a massively underperforming asset that is highly complementary to GameStop's growing collectibles and secondhand business — and that his e-commerce operating experience makes him uniquely positioned to unlock its value. He believes eBay defaulted into its niche categories by accident rather than strategy, and that the business should be significantly larger. Unlike Chewy or GameStop, Cohen says this is 'actually a really good idea' — a marketplace model in categories where Amazon is structurally weak.
Key Moments
Ryan Cohen
“I understood from the beginning that the real competition was always Amazon and they were world class when it comes to supply chain. So negotiating very fiercely with suppliers to get the best product costs.”
Cohen explaining how he learned to operate Chewy against Amazon as a low-margin business
“If our suppliers are sending us gifts in the mail, that's a really bad sign. It means we're overpaying. If our suppliers are telling us they never want to speak to us again, it means we're getting the right price.”
Cohen describing his counterintuitive philosophy on supplier negotiations at Chewy
“I learned a lot at GameStop. I basically took I went in and I had this bias from Chewy, which is basically like everything that I learned at Chewy I was going to apply to GameStop. And it took me about I don't know maybe just over a year to realize that was really stupid.”
Cohen reflecting on his biggest mistake after joining GameStop's board and hiring a CEO
“I like to do big things. And you know, Chewy is a good example. It could have been a $500 million business. It could have been a hundred million business. It could have been profitable if we would have spent a lot less money on marketing. But life is too short to do it small.”
Cohen explaining why he looked beyond organic growth at GameStop toward acquiring eBay
“Not necessarily through strategy or just because they ended up they ended up basically like defaulting into those categories cuz their largest competitor was focused on other things.”
Cohen assessing why eBay carved out a niche in collectibles and secondhand — by accident rather than design
Ryan Cohen is the founder of Chewy, the online pet food retailer he built and sold to PetSmart for $3.35 billion in 2017. He later became an activist investor and took over as CEO of GameStop, transforming it from a struggling retail chain into a profitable collectibles-focused business with nearly $10 billion in cash. He is currently pursuing a $56 billion acquisition of eBay through GameStop.
Takeaways
1
Angry suppliers signal you're winning on price Cohen's rule at Chewy was simple: if a supplier sends gifts, you're overpaying; if they say they never want to talk to you again, you're getting the right price. This deliberately transactional stance runs counter to most business culture but is essential in low-margin e-commerce. Building a team that shares this mindset — not the relationship-building instinct — was one of his core hiring challenges.
2
Applying one retail playbook to another is a trap Cohen spent over a year trying to make GameStop more like Chewy — hiring e-commerce people from Chewy and Amazon — before realizing it was 'really really stupid.' The businesses look similar (both retail) but are structurally different: Chewy has recurring consumable purchases and fast inventory turns, while GameStop's physical retail model punishes overbought inventory harshly. Recognizing when a winning framework does NOT transfer is as valuable as the framework itself.
3
Recurring revenue changes everything about inventory risk The reason Cohen pivoted from jewelry to pet food was the recurring purchase nature of consumables — he could never overbuy at Chewy because the inventory would always sell. At GameStop, buying TVs and other hardware led to stuck inventory and markdowns. The structural difference between consumable and discretionary inventory should drive fundamentally different buying and risk strategies.
4
eBay's moat was accidental, not strategic Cohen's read is that eBay didn't strategically win in collectibles, refurbished tech, and used auto parts — it defaulted into those categories because Amazon focused elsewhere. This is a damning but actionable insight: a company can hold a strong moat in categories it never deliberately built, and new management could systematically deepen and expand that moat with intent. Cohen sees this as the opportunity.
5
GameStop's trade-in model extends naturally to collectibles Cohen describes a direct extension of GameStop's hardware and software trade-in model to PSA-graded trading cards: bring in a PSA 8 or above, get cash on the spot, and GameStop resells in-store or online. This asset-light secondhand model creates a flywheel — the same operational DNA that worked in gaming applies directly to the collectibles category. It also mirrors what eBay does online, which is the core thesis for the acquisition.
6
Hire for will over skill — relentless applicants beat résumés Cohen's head of customer service came from a nursing home and had no relevant experience, but she applied repeatedly and was relentless. He calls this looking for 'will over skill' — people who are 'psychotic' about the job in the same way founders are. He explicitly says on paper she wasn't qualified, but drive and motivation made her 'incredible.' This is a hiring principle he credits as foundational to Chewy's customer service success.
7
Marketplace model beats first-party inventory for secondhand Cohen is explicit that he would not pursue first-party inventory at eBay even though Amazon's success is partly built on it. His conviction is that the marketplace model — particularly in categories like collectibles, refurbished tech, and used auto parts — is where eBay has durable competitive advantage and where he can add the most value. Going head-to-head with Amazon on inventory is, in his words, 'not the most attractive business.'