[stephen_g]

> That was the hard part of the deal: will (enough) eBay shareholders want to be GameStop shareholders.

There is no upside for eBay shareholders - a leveraged buyout makes sense if it's for 100% cash, because the buyers are taking the risk and the debt, and the sellers get the cash. But in this deal, Gamestop need to borrow the money to pay 50% to eBay's shareholders, but then the other 50% eBay's shareholders get is shares in the company that holds all that debt!?!

It would be better for eBay's investors if eBay themselves just borrowed $20bn to do share buybacks. I mean, it would still be dumb and make absolutely no financial sense (because they still hold shares in the company that holds the debt) but at least they wouldn't have the extra liability of Gamestop's dwindling business on the side.

[Scoundreller]

eBay does pay out a tiny dividend… would be better for everyone’s taxes if they did buybacks with it…

If they leveraged up a bit more for even more buybacks, they wouldn’t be the first to do so.