Disaffected millennial Ryan Cohen had an interesting week.
Online marketplace eBay ( EBAY ) rejected his $55 billion deal to buy the company. The company called the unsolicited offer “unbelievable and unattractive.”
Cohen has taken to the radio to fire off a few prepared answers that he thinks are funny and play well on social media.
“Ryan Cohen’s behavior throughout this process has been interesting, to say the least. Even hostile at times,” said Hennion & Walsh strategist Kevin Mahn about Yahoo Finance’s opening bid (video above).
Let’s have an honest discussion here.
The thought of this deal happening was absurd at a time when the game had been making headlines for the past few weeks. It looks even more absurd when you watch Cohen talk about his little plan to make this deal happen.
This is not the first time I have argued against Cohen.
In August 2022, I urged Bed Bath & Beyond investors not to believe that Cohen, who was a shareholder, wanted to bring good things to the chain. He later disposed of all his stock, and today the company continues to support life in some way.
In June 2023, I issued an open letter to Cohen inviting him to debate me on Yahoo Finance about what he planned to do with GameStop. The lack of disclosures continued (where are the earnings calls?) and so did the seller’s poor sales conditions. Profits have increased because the workforce is small and stores are closing.
Cohen did not challenge me.
The truth is that Ryan Cohen is no Warren Buffett (as his fans think), and his eBay stunt was probably a media stunt designed to get him a few headlines. There was absolutely no reason for eBay to consider this.
First, eBay has shown great progress up and down under CEO Jamie Iannone. GameStop sales continued to decline.
Second, eBay’s stock is up 63% over the past year, while GameStop’s is down 22%. Since Cohen was named GameStop’s executive chairman in June 2023, stocks have fallen slightly — the S&P 500 (^GSPC) is up 71%.
And third, this would have been a high-profile deal that would have put the combined GameStop and eBay in an unhealthy valuation position.
What joint venture wants to start its time together viewed as waste by creditors?
“It [the deal] indeed he did not [pass the sniff test],” B. Riley chief market strategist Art Hogan told me about Opening Bid this week. “Sometimes you look at deals and say, maybe this could make sense. There was no way to get there with this deal. It was as if someone wanted to put two stones together to see if they would float. And apparently there was no way to get this money.”
But with Cohen attacking eBay’s corporate governance and board structure, I think it’s only fair to check out GameStop before I leave.
Let’s take a look at Club Cohen at GameStop:
-
GameStop’s five-member board includes Chewy ( CHWY ) founder Cohen, two other former Chewy executives, and an early institutional investor in Chewy, who also raised Chewy’s subsequent financing and served as a strategic advisor.
-
Next, the lead independent director of GameStop, the chairman of the compensation committee, and the chairman of the control committee are all managed by the same director who previously worked at Chewy.
So, after what appears to be a failed eBay game, I repeat this to Ryan Cohen.
Ryan, I challenge you again to come on my show and argue with me about GameStop and this eBay bid. I want to go line by line through your GameStop plan for the next decade. I then want to go through your eBay program and sponsorship program line by line. You bring your slide decks. I will bring my notes.
And you can sit there and stumble and give lame, prepared answers. You can do it. I want your followers to see who they are invested in and who they are invested in.
An eBay spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
Brian Sozzi is the Editor-in-Chief of Yahoo Finance and a member of the Yahoo Finance editorial team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagramagain LinkedIn. Tips for news? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
Click here for an in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events that move stock prices
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
