TL;DR: GameStop made hundreds of millions behind the scenes accumulating derivatives on eBay well before the big reveal. EBay's price has increased significantly since then. No matter how this unfolds, RC already scored a fortune for GameStop in a relatively short amount of time with his eBay position. Buy. Hold. DRS.
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I noticed a lot of people are looking at the flashy headlines, rather than paying attention to the work in the background. RC quietly built a leveraged synthetic derivatives position in eBay first, 22 million shares worth of exposure via put/call pairs, prior to dropping the acquisition bomb publicly.
GME's 5% stake in eBay is almost all derivatives.
The moment eBay surged on the news, GME made hundreds of millions in unrealized gains overnight. This is one of the most calculated financial moves I've seen from GME recently, and most people are missing the real story.
Primary source: The actual Schedule 13D filed with the SEC on May 4, 2026:
Here's what it says, directly from the filing:
"As more fully described herein, in addition to the 25,000 shares of Common Stock beneficially owned directly by the Reporting Person, it also has acquired economic exposure to 22,176,000 shares of Common Stock underlying Put/Call Pairs (as defined herein). Together, the 25,000 shares of Common Stock beneficially owned directly and the shares underlying Put/Call Pairs constitute approximately 5.0% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock, based on the 444 million shares of Common Stock stated by the Issuer as being outstanding as of April 24, 2026 in the Issuer's 2026 Q1 10-Q. In the event of physical settlement of the Put/Call Pairs, GameStop would have the sole power to vote or direct the vote of the shares of Common Stock underlying such Put/Call Pairs.
25,000 real shares. That's it. The other 22,176,000 shares of exposure? Derivatives. Think about that for a second.
Take a look at Exhibit 99.1 and 99.2 from the Schedule 13D: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/?r=el#/q=gamestop&page=1&ciks=0001065088&entityName=EBAY%20INC%20%20(CIK%200001065088)
GameStop began accumulating its position in eBay on February 4, 2026:
By March 4, 2026, GameStop had over 10,000,000 shares in eBay worth of derivatives:
That means GameStop began accumulating its eBay position when eBay was around $90 per share:
RC built that position quietly, without triggering major disclosure requirements, without moving the market against himself, and without depleting GME's $9.4B cash pile. Then he went public, and the surge in eBay's price alone made GameStop hundreds of millions worth of unrealized profits.
For those that don't know, a put/call pair is when you buy a call option and sell a put option at the same strike price and expiration. The result is synthetic long exposure, economically identical to owning the shares outright, but at a fraction of the capital outlay.
RC secured $20B in debt financing from TD Securities, got his board to unanimously support the proposal, built 22 million shares of synthetic eBay exposure, and then dropped everything at once.
There is no losing here. Let's walk through every realistic outcome:
Outcome 1:
eBay accepts the deal → RC becomes CEO of a $55B combined company. GME's ~1,600 stores become fulfillment and authentication infrastructure for one of the world's largest e-commerce marketplaces.
Outcome 2:
eBay rejects but stock stays elevated → GME books massive gains on the derivatives position and walks away profitable.
Outcome 3:
Deal gets negotiated at a lower price → RC has leverage, a seat at the table, and an already-profitable derivatives position.
There is no losing scenario for GME here. Ignore the noise.
See you on the moon.