GameStop hits the limits of credibility with $55.5bn eBay bid | Nils Pratley

The ‘meme stock’ company is remembered for Reddit traders sending its share price into orbit but its move on the auction site looks less likely to take off GameStop’s $55.5bn bid for eBay rejected as ‘neither credible nor attractive’ “Neither credible nor attractive.” No, not a line from a junior minister’s resignation letter on Tuesday. It was eBay’s succinct appraisal of the bizarre $55.5bn (£41bn) takeover offer from video games retailer GameStop, an affair that offers light distraction from the sight of UK 10-year gilt yields at 5%-plus. To recap: GameStop is the “meme stock” company that became famous a few years ago when amateur traders on a Reddit forum piled in furiously in an attempt to burn the short-sellers who were betting on the struggling retailer’s demise. Surprisingly, the Redditers succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The squeeze drove up GameStop’s share price hundredfold, inflicting hell on serious hedge funds and making the company’s chief executive, Ryan Cohen, an anti-establishment hero. Continue reading...

The ‘meme stock’ company is remembered for Reddit traders sending its share price into orbit but its move on the auction site looks less likely to take off

GameStop’s $55.5bn bid for eBay rejected as ‘neither credible nor attractive’

“Neither credible nor attractive.” No, not a line from a junior minister’s resignation letter on Tuesday. It was eBay’s succinct appraisal of the bizarre $55.5bn (£41bn) takeover offer from video games retailer GameStop, an affair that offers light distraction from the sight of UK 10-year gilt yields at 5%-plus.

To recap: GameStop is the “meme stock” company that became famous a few years ago when amateur traders on a Reddit forum piled in furiously in an attempt to burn the short-sellers who were betting on the struggling retailer’s demise. Surprisingly, the Redditers succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The squeeze drove up GameStop’s share price hundredfold, inflicting hell on serious hedge funds and making the company’s chief executive, Ryan Cohen, an anti-establishment hero.

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