Episode summary
EBay Spurns GameStop’s Bid as ‘Neither Credible Nor Attractive’ | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Cecilia D'Anastasio, Lily Meier, Sid Philip, Gautam Mukunda
Summary
eBay rejected GameStop’s unsolicited $56 billion takeover offer, calling it “neither credible nor attractive,” and the hosts and Cecilia D'Anastasio questioned whether Ryan Cohen had a financing plan or a convincing strategic rationale. D'Anastasio said Cohen never clearly explained the synergies, while the discussion leaned toward the bid looking underthought, possibly even designed to lift GameStop’s stock or force a proxy fight.
Lily Meier said Under Armour disappointed investors with guidance that missed expectations, with revenue and earnings pressured by the exit from the Steph Curry partnership and by the Middle East conflict. She said the company is trying to simplify its business by reducing SKUs and discounts, but that the turnaround in athletic wear will take time and competition from Nike, Adidas and smaller brands remains intense.
Sid Philip said Boeing is trying to use Trump’s China trip to secure its first big Chinese order in nearly a decade, potentially including 500 737 MAXs and wide-bodies. He argued the bigger issue is Boeing’s future product strategy: the company is focused on a more evolutionary new plane while also ramping 737 output, with production targets moving from 42 a month to 60 if regulators allow it.
Key takeaways
- eBay’s board dismissed GameStop’s $56 billion offer as “neither credible nor attractive,” citing financing uncertainty, operational risk and governance concerns.
- Cecilia D'Anastasio said Ryan Cohen never clearly laid out the synergies for combining GameStop and eBay, which left analysts confused about the logic of the bid.
- Lily Meier said Under Armour’s outlook was hurt by the loss of the Steph Curry brand and by Middle East-related pressure, and that revenue would have been flat if the deal had stayed in place.
- Sid Philip said Boeing is seeking a first major China order in almost a decade, with a possible deal for 500 737 MAXs and wide-body aircraft.
- Gautam Mukunda said AI works best on familiar patterns, but it can fail badly when the future looks unlike the past, especially in high-stakes moments.
Notable quotes
“eBay has now rejected that $56 billion takeover offer, calling it neither credible nor attractive”
“He never really went out and said, "Hey, we run a video game, you know, retail company, but also we're doing really well in collectibles”
“We could have heard that in any of the interviews that Ryan Cohen gave, but he didn't actually really go out and say that”
“they said that for this coming year the Curry brand separation made it so that their revenue was down slightly”
“Boeing's looking to secure its first big order from China in almost a decade”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. — On Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. — Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. One of the stories, Paul, that's got you and me scratching our heads is eBay. GameStop's bid for eBay, a company that is four times its size. Ryan Cohen, of course, making this very dramatic takeover offer for the company. eBay has now rejected that $56 billion takeover offer, calling it neither credible nor attractive. I think that pretty much tells you what it thinks.
I did investment banking for a long time, and I can get very creative with the capital structures, but I have a hard time seeing how they're going to how they would finance this thing. All right, let's bring in Cecilia Danastasios. She is our video game reporter here at Bloomberg. Great to see you, Cecilia.
Thank you for having me. Um what was the thinking behind GameStop in making a bid for eBay? You know, we actually didn't get a lot of insight into what CEO Ryan Cohen thought that the proposed synergies could look like.
He never really went out and said, "Hey, we run a video game, you know, retail company, but also we're doing really well in collectibles. We're doing really well selling Pokémon cards. eBay also doing really well selling Pokémon cards and baseball cards.
We could have heard that in any of the interviews that Ryan Cohen gave, but he didn't actually really go out and say that. In fact, when he was given questions about what the combined company could look like, he often sort of dodged.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ebay takeover
- retail guidance
- under armour earnings
- boeing turnaround
- ai weather forecasting
Companies and tickers mentioned
- EBAY
- GME
- UA
- UAA
- BA
- eBay
- GameStop Corp.
- Under Armour
- Boeing
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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