GameStop’s Ryan Cohen pulls his $35B pay deal, to focus on buying eBay

Ryan Cohen is the CEO of GameStop. And Tuesday’s press release made one thing very clear: he pulled his own proposed compensation package off the table, effectively scrapping the potential windfall totaling more than $35 billion.

Why? GameStop says the Chewy cofounder wants to fully focus on turning around GameStop and acquiring eBay. GameStop also says it removed the proposed CEO Performance Award from its proxy statement at Cohen's request. That matters because shareholders were poised to vote on the pay package ahead of the company’s annual meeting on July 7. In other words, the pay debate has been paused, and the eBay bet is taking its place.

Cohen’s interest in acquiring eBay is not subtle. The company notes Cohen has reiterated his intention to acquire the online marketplace in recent days, even though eBay is more than five times larger than GameStop, with a market value of $48 billion. The history is part of the tension: eBay rejected Cohen’s cash-and-stock offer in May. That rejection is also part of why Tuesday’s move reads like more than a cosmetic tweak to executive compensation. If you are willing to walk away from a massive performance-linked package, you are telling the board and the market that the eBay transaction is the real priority.

The stated commitment is also concrete. GameStop says Cohen told the company he is putting in $500 million of his own money to help make the eBay deal happen. GameStop’s press release frames this as part of demonstrating conviction. Cohen discussed the opportunity in an episode of the “All-In” podcast released on Tuesday, expanding on what he thinks a combined company could do.

His pitch has several moving parts. First, he said there is an opportunity to cut eBay’s “bloated costs.” Second, he argued that GameStop’s roughly 1,600 US stores could become fulfillment centers, serve orders, and act as studios for content creators, supporting a “live commerce” approach. Third, he tied the deal to digital collectibles, suggesting a marketplace for digital items in video games. Cohen’s recurring theme is that GameStop’s footprint and commerce capabilities could help modernize eBay’s business model and expand into adjacent digital markets.

For executives and boards, the pay mechanics are not trivia. Before Cohen withdrew the package, shareholders were set to vote on it. The proposed compensation structure included a total of 171.5 million share options if Cohen helped grow GameStop’s market value to $100 billion and its adjusted profits to $10 billion. GameStop says those shares would have been worth in excess of $35 billion.

But the backlash context is also baked in. The Business Insider report notes that Michael Burry of “The Big Short” fame revealed in early May that he sold his GameStop stake because he was skeptical of the eBay deal. Burry suggested Cohen was pursuing a heavily dilutive transaction because it would help him hit market cap and profit milestones, generating a huge payout. Cohen’s decision to withdraw the award at his request, right as shareholders were about to vote, is a high-profile response to that kind of scrutiny. GameStop also addressed a key point in a filing: Cohen “wouldn't have received a windfall purely for acquiring eBay,” because his performance hurdles would be adjusted to reflect a stock-based acquisition.

There is another layer, too: the governance dynamics. In a June 19 interview with Piers Morgan, Cohen declined to rule out a hostile takeover, meaning he might attempt to buy the business against the board's wishes. That comment sits in the background of all this. When an activist-minded CEO pairs personal capital commitment with explicit willingness to press forward despite rejection by the target, boards at both the acquirer and target sides tend to take it seriously, because the bargaining table can shift from “negotiated deal” to “pressure campaign.”

GameStop says it plans to provide fresh details about its plan to purchase eBay this week, including its strategic rationale and how it plans to run the combined company. GameStop and eBay did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For other executives and decision-makers, the second-order takeaway is about incentives and credibility. Cohen’s move removes a controversial compensation item from the proxy timeline, at least temporarily, while keeping the acquisition push alive. That can change how investors interpret risk: is this a desperate attempt to unlock executive payout targets, or a conviction-driven restructuring effort with personal money behind it? The answer likely depends on execution quality, not just deal headlines.

Either way, the stakes are enormous. eBay’s market value is $48 billion, and the deal would be more than five times larger than GameStop. If Cohen is serious enough to step away from a $35 billion-style pay package and commit $500 million personally, then every boardroom across retail, marketplaces, and commerce technology should be watching how GameStop builds the case, navigates shareholder politics, and responds to the fact that eBay has already said no once.