By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Abigail Summerville
NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) – GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen told eBay’s board on Wednesday that they should not reject his $56 billion takeover proposal and the e-commerce company’s shareholders deserve a chance to evaluate it.
Cohen wrote to the chairman of eBay informing him that he had requested a meeting with the company’s board but that the board declined, according to the letter which was seen by Reuters.
Cohen sent his letter one day after eBay on Tuesday rejected his stock and cash offer, calling the offer “neither credible nor attractive.”
“They should not dismiss a $125 per share proposal without engaging on its substance,” Cohen’s letter to eBay Chairman Paul Presser said. “The economics are clear and they are public. eBay’s own shareholders deserve the opportunity to evaluate them,” Cohen’s letter added.
Earlier this month Cohen surprised Wall Street with his unsolicited offer to buy a company significantly bigger than his own when he offered $125 a share in cash and stock for each eBay share. GameStop has a market valuation of roughly $10 billion while eBay’s market value is roughly $50 billion.
The letter also compared Cohen’s tenure as leader at GameStop with eBay chief Jamie Iannone’s six years at the helm. “He has received ~$144 million in compensation. He has not purchased a single share of eBay common stock in the open market,” Cohen’s letter said.
Separately, Cohen was interviewed by journalist Piers Morgan and said: “I’m an owner-operator. I’m not one of these country club executives that get recruited through these professional agencies.”
Referring to eBay, he said, “I love the asset,” but added, “it’s run by a bunch of losers.”
To break what looks like a standoff between the two sides, Cohen signaled he is not giving up. “They have a job to do their best for shareholders and engage on this and if they don’t then we’ll do whatever we need to do,” he said.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Nia Williams and Stephen Coates)
