GameStop’s CEO sacrificed his salary. May affect your eBay purchases

game stop CEO Ryan Cohen reminded Wall Street this week that he is still seriously considering acquisitions. eBay. But he still wasn’t clear on how that could be achieved.

The video game retailer, which became the world’s most famous meme stock in 2021, announced Tuesday that its board had granted a request from Cohen to withdraw a proposed bonus plan that could pay out up to $35 billion if it hits certain performance metrics.

This was the company’s first major update on its pursuit of eBay since May, when Mr. Cohen announced a bold proposal to buy the e-commerce company for $56 billion. eBay’s board quickly rejected the proposal as “not credible or attractive,” a sentiment shared by the entire market, given GameStop’s market capitalization of approximately $10 billion.

Mr. Cohen, who became GameStop’s CEO in 2023 and led the company to profitability through aggressive cost-cutting, has done little to satisfy skeptics. At the time of the proposal, GameStop said it was preparing a $20 billion loan letter from TD Bank, but did not say how it would address the remaining funding gap.

In a combative interview with CNBC, Cohen said the company would provide cash and half of the stock, as well as “the ability to issue stock to complete the transaction.” The stock price fell 10% on the day of the announcement and has been trending lower ever since.

Mr. Cohen has now returned to the matter, rescinding the bonus plan he announced in January. One of the requirements to achieve the full $35 billion payout was to increase GameStop’s market capitalization to $100 billion.

“Mr. Cohen has indicated that he wants leadership that is fully focused on GameStop’s performance and the proposed acquisition of eBay,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. GameStop said it will release a “detailed presentation” this week on the strategic rationale and operational plans behind its eBay offer.

Eden Chen, a former scout at venture firm Andreessen Horowitz and CEO of gaming software company First Look, said cutting off bonuses at least allays concerns that Cohen would want to trade as a way to earn bonuses.

“His salary package is tied to achieving a certain market capitalization, and if he merges with a larger company, he will probably get there quickly,” Chen said. GameStop wrote in a release Tuesday that at the time its board of directors approved the compensation package, the company had not decided to move forward with the deal with eBay.

Still, Chen said Cohen hasn’t solved the larger problem: “How does a $10 billion company acquire a $50 billion company?”

GameStop did not respond to a request for comment.

To be sure, Mr. Cohen received no assistance from eBay. Founded in 1995, the company is in the midst of a turnaround, with a focus on “focus categories” such as trading cards, auto parts and collectibles.

Investors largely praised the plan, with eBay shares up about 25% this year after rising 41% in 2025. Citizens analysts, who have a market outperform rating on eBay stock, said in a May note that the company has strong momentum and has “done a good job of focusing on winnable categories.”

In its response to Mr. Cohen’s May proposal, eBay’s board said it had confidence in its current management team and that the business had “achieved meaningful results” over the past several years. The board cited funding uncertainty, operational risk and leadership concerns as some of its arguments against the deal.

“Mr. Cohen has yet to address these concerns in a meaningful way,” Sky Canaves, principal analyst at eMarketer, said in an email.

But that doesn’t mean Cohen is silent. Rather, he continued to defend the proposal in public and on his X account, which subsequently triggered a filing from eBay with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“When you think about how much sense these businesses make and the fact that it’s within my capabilities, you can’t help but think about it,” Cohen, who co-founded Chewy, said on Tuesday’s episode of the “All In Podcast.”

Mr. Cohen hinted in an interview that he was willing to put $500 million of his own money into the offer, an additional amount that would only make up for a small portion of the funding gap.

Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston University School of Law, said Mr. Cohen’s proposal was just a distraction for eBay.

“Unless GME shows up with a ton of cash, GME’s offer is just a promise to ride the meme coaster, and no board in their right mind wants any part of it,” Quinn said in an email.

Aside from the eBay acquisition effort, Mr. Cohen’s bonus package also drew criticism.

Earlier this month, the Pontiac City General Employees Retirement System filed a proposed class action lawsuit in Delaware seeking to block a shareholder vote on Cohen’s pay package until the board makes “appropriate disclosures” about the plan. It was supposed to be voted on at GameStop’s annual general meeting scheduled for July 7th.

GameStop said in a filing that the lawsuit is without merit and that the company “intends to vigorously defend itself.”

Paul Nally, an assistant professor of business administration at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said the rescinding of the pay package signals that Cohen is serious about pursuing eBay, but “there’s a lot of detail that needs to be worked out” on how to make it happen.

“Mr. Cohen appears to be escalating his commitment to doing business with eBay, and his signals that he is likely willing to do business without exorbitant compensation are likely sincere,” Mr. Nally said in an email. “But I’m still not sure whether this increased commitment to the eBay acquisition is a good thing for GME shareholders.”

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