GameStop’s wild bid for eBay

The FT News Briefing explores a bold and unprecedented move by GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, who has launched a $56 billion unsolicited bid to acquire eBay, marking what could be the first 'meme M&A' deal in history. Cohen, a former meme stock king known for revitalizing GameStop and building Chewy from scratch, aims to merge GameStop's retail presence with eBay's e-commerce platform to create a $100 billion rival to Amazon. While the financial mechanics appear plausible—half cash from GameStop’s $9 billion in reserves and a $20 billion loan from TD Bank, with the rest funded through new stock issuance—the deal remains highly speculative, especially given eBay’s cold reception and Cohen’s plan to bypass the board via a proxy fight. Meanwhile, the episode covers broader global economic shifts: Big tech firms like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet are spending heavily on AI infrastructure, risking record-low free cash flow, with returns expected only next year. In India, foreign investors are pulling $22 billion amid a collapsing rupee driven by war-related energy shocks, a ballooning trade deficit, and a lack of AI-driven investment appeal, though domestic consumers remain shielded from immediate price hikes. The episode closes with anticipation for a high-stakes U.S.-China summit in Beijing, where diplomatic tensions, energy security, and Trump’s tariff policies loom large.