Video game retailer GameStop has reportedly announced a takeover offer of the ecommerce giant eBay. According to ABC News, GameStop, which operates about 1,600 stores nationwide, has faced difficulty in recent years as customers have shifted to online purchases.  

BBC reports that Ryan Cohen, current GameStop chief executive, believes eBay could be much more successful under his leadership than their rival Amazon, should the deal go through. Cohen has criticized eBay’s slow shift into e-commerce, saying eBay had failed to attract more users to a “marketplace with near-universal brand recognition”.

According to BBC, eBay, which launched in 1995 as a marketplace for hobbyists, has been reportedly losing users worldwide. They currently have 135 million users, down from the 175 million users it had in 2018.

Should the proposal be accepted, Cohen would become the chief executive of the new combined company. However, according to the BBC, he would receive no salary or bonuses, instead being “compensated solely based on the performance of the combined company”. 

Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at research firm Forrester, believes the proposal does not sound like a “terribly good offer”, according to the BBC,  as it would saddle eBay with GameStop’s debt. GameStop, meanwhile, says it is well positioned to slash costs and improve efficiency at eBay.

GameStop’s offer to buy eBay led GameStop’s stock to fall 9% and eBay’s stock to rise 5%.With this proposed deal, this may change how people shop online and also change how people shop in-store with GameStop and eBay.