Jun 23, 2026 · 1h 3m · allin
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s $56B Plan to Take Over eBay
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of the All-In Podcast, GameStop CEO and Chewy founder Ryan Cohen joins host Dave to discuss his entrepreneurial journey, the operational turnaround of GameStop, and his ambitious $56 billion bid to acquire and revitalize eBay.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The hosts as informed peer 4.3 Guest teaching 2.9 Guest disagreement 2.7 The hosts pushing back 2.1
speaking balance: gold is the hosts, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 55:20 Attacking risk-averse legacy board members
Cohen forcefully rails against eBay's board and executive team for earning hundreds of thousands of dollars without putting personal capital at risk or taking open-market positions.
Hardest push from the hosts ▶ 53:12 Pressing for an all-cash bid structureDave directly challenges Cohen's offer design, asking why he doesn't raise full cash via syndication to strip the eBay board of financing uncertainty excuses.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:15 Exposing supplier relationship illusionsCohen reframes traditional business relationship metrics, educating the host that receiving gifts from vendors is a clear sign that a buyer is overpaying.
The host holds their own ▶ 58:40 Analyzing media narrative lock-inDave demonstrates deep industry expertise by explaining how media outlets refuse to acknowledge GameStop's turnaround because admitting success would ruin their prior reporting credibility.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The hosts as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The hosts pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome and the Origin Story of Chewy | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Host Dave opens with a friendly welcome and asks standard conversational questions about the founding of Chewy. Ryan Cohen calmly explains how shopping in a local pet store prompted a shift from jewelry to pet supplies. The interaction is relaxed with no host pushback. | |
| Operational Execution and Obsessive Customer Experience at Chewy | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Dave asks about operational execution and customer experience balance. Cohen details warehouse optimization, low-margin dynamics against Amazon, and personalized customer care. The host asks relevant follow-up questions while letting the guest lead. | |
| Management Philosophy, Team Culture, and Selling Chewy | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Dave asks Cohen how he built his team and whether he regrets selling Chewy before its post-IPO market cap surge. Cohen reframes supplier relations, noting that gifts from vendors signal overpaying. Dave lightly teases about selling early, maintaining an engaging dynamic. | |
| Activist Investing Strategy and Entering GameStop | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Dave references the WallStreetBets context and asks how Cohen shifted into activist investing at GameStop. Dave demonstrates knowledge of SEC filings by discussing 13D vs 13G distinctions. Cohen details how an initial passive position turned activist due to management inertia. | |
| Pivoting GameStop and Building the Collectibles Category | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | Dave brings up business frameworks like Charles Koch's management principles to probe Cohen's operational playbook. Cohen self-deprecatingly admits that trying to apply the Chewy e-commerce model directly to physical retail at GameStop was a mistake, explaining how he shifted to collectibles. | |
| Sponsor Segment: Nasdaq | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | After a brief Nasdaq sponsor read, Dave cites precise GameStop quarterly balance sheet statistics, including SG&A reductions and cash reserves. He then asks what drove Cohen to turn his focus toward acquiring eBay. The tone remains informative and collaborative. | |
| Critiquing eBay's Stagnation and Seller Frustrations | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | Dave asks about Amazon's high seller margins and whether eBay missed strategic opportunities. Cohen sharply criticizes eBay's post-founder management for letting the platform stagnate while competitors picked off market share. The host provides informed context regarding merchant seller frustrations. | |
| Turnaround Blueprint: Cost Cuts, Live Shopping, and Digital Gaming Collectibles | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | Dave demonstrates strong domain context by citing eBay's history with Skype, PayPal, and StubHub, asking if management suffered strategic or tactical errors. Cohen lays out a detailed 3-part turnaround plan involving $2B in cost cuts, store-based live commerce studios, and digital in-game collectibles. | |
| Overcoming Board Resistance, Golden Parachutes, and Commitment to Win | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | Dave pushes back hard on why Cohen hasn't structured an all-cash $56B offer to remove board objections, citing shareholder vote thresholds. Cohen delivers a passionate rant against risk-averse legacy board members and media bias while highlighting his $500M personal stake. Dave offers a keen analysis of media narrative lock-in to conclude. |
Statements from this episode (14)
Ryan Cohen: Chewy reached billions in revenue with negative working capital
“And we had negative working capital, and so it was a business that was able to get billions of dollars in revenue and not consume a lot of capital.”
Cohen: Supplier gifts signal overpaying, while supplier anger signals optimal pricing
“If our suppliers are sending us gifts in the mail, that's a really bad sign. It means we're overpaying. If our suppliers are telling us they never want to speak to us again, it means we're getting the right price.”
Ryan Cohen details investment criteria for out-of-favor companies
“I looked for established businesses that have a strong historical track record of making money and typically are out of favor when it comes to passive or activist kind of investments. And so that's been my general framework.”
GameStop originally invited Ryan Cohen to board to fend off activist
“Well, when it came to GameStop, originally it was a passive investment and I owned under five percent and the CEO actually reached out to me because they were fighting an activist and they wanted me to join the board.”
Cohen: Original GameStop thesis relied on upcoming console cycle
“The original thesis was that there's an upcoming console cycle and that they're probably going to survive until the upcoming console cycle and the new PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox comes out.”
Cohen: Applying Chewy's playbook to GameStop was a 'really stupid' mistake
“I went in and I had this bias from Chewy, which is basically like everything that I learned at Chewy, I was going to apply to GameStop. And it took me about, I don't know, maybe Just over a year to realize that was really, really stupid.”
GameStop pays cash on the spot for graded PSA 8+ cards
“You can bring in a, Graded PSA card eight and above, and we will give you cash on the spot. We buy back the card, and then we either sell it in the store, or we bring it back to our warehouses, and we sell it online.”
Ryan Cohen: Chewy could have been profitable sooner with less marketing spend
“It could have been a five hundred million dollar business. It could have been a hundred million dollar business. It could have been profitable if we would have spent a lot less money on marketing, but life is too short to do it small.”
Cohen: eBay active users have dropped by 30 million since COVID
“I mean, if you just look at how they've done in the past since COVID, Every important metric is down. GMV is down. Active users is down by thirty million.”
Cohen: $2B in costs can be immediately cut from eBay
“Number one is on immediately improving earnings through cutting costs. And Pulling two billion dollars of costs out of the business and on the operating base of, you know, close to five and a half billion of expenses and 2.4 billion spent on sales and marketin…”
Cohen: In-game digital item market could exceed eBay physical market
“But if you look at in-game digital items, there's no marketplace that is providing liquidity for them. And so I would use eBay to provide liquidity for in-game digital items. And I believe that addressable market is significantly larger than could be much larg…”