Elizabeth Warren has said: A single AI data center uses as much electricity as 100,000 households—and utility companies are passing the upgrade costs to you, not to the trillion-dollar tech giants.
I think it's interesting that $EBAY comms/press relations can't be bothered to do their jobs & respond to emails from a journalist requesting comment about serious issues at the co for 5 years.
I also think it's interesting eBay is willing to pay outside consultants to send an unsolicited email with links to their rejection notice to that same journalist.
Kind of proves many of the points @ryancohen has been making.
OK $EBAY $GME, let me get coffee & catch up. ☕
First thoughts: eBay comms/press dept has ignored my emails & req for comment re all of the DD issues I've been exposing here for years.
Now that they've brought in experts, this was promptly in my inbox this AM.
Interesting...
@magsonthemoon This offer was never meant to be accepted, it was to agree on a price while disagreeing on financing, intentionally. Now he can pitch all cash to shareholders.
@Stonkfather2021 I mean, it was pretty obvious considering the tack he took that this would be hostile. It's almost like he WANTED it to go this route, and I think he did. This is so entertaining!!!!
This is about to be the longest post ever on X (formerly known as Twitter).
As with all my content, please don't like, subscribe, or share. I'm just posting in the middle of the night as I usually do when there are important events with Gamestop. And yesterday's Proxy probably represents one of the most important events we've had, so here I am.
First, my bias. I hold over 70,000 shares right now and run a covered strangle. Where folks were worried about my covered calls just days ago (26c and up) now they should be worried about my cash secured puts (22p) which obligate me to buy the stock if it is below $22 on Friday. So Saturday morning I might own more GameStop than I ever have in my life. Which is fine, I only sell calls at prices I'm happy to sell and puts at prices I'm happy to buy. But life certainly comes at you fast with GameStop.
So that discloses my bias: Bullish on GameStop but rangebound. That is simply how I approach the thing positionally to risk manage and make money. It might influence what I have to say regarding events, but I'd rather like to think events influence why I position as I do. In summary: huge bias. Doubt anything I have to say. I am very often wrong.
On Roaring Kitty: I don't know what is going on there. I find it all to be rather unfortunate and hope he and his family are well.
More importantly, the Proxy Filing: I am not writing this to persuade, but to hopefully inform (myself). I like to talk things through and have said before, I really made the videos for myself above all. Had nobody watched, I would have still made them and am glad I did. I learned a lot. And still have much to learn.
So here goes, my current thoughts.
Firstly, I don't know how I will vote yet. I'm still processing. I'm not hesitant or doubtful necessarily of Ryan Cohen, I'm just thinking a lot. I take the vote very seriously because it is a very serious moment for GameStop.
I like knowns. GameStop's situation right now is known to me. I can recite off the numbers by heart. 448m shares. Converts at 0%! 9.x in cash. BTC exposure. Operationally profitable. Pivoting US domestic and TCG. A fortress and well positioned for the next console cycle.
But Ryan Cohen is right. It's a dog. I can't believe I'm yolo'd into GameStop. I am lucky to have a really great store in our town, one of the top performers in the region consistently and the staff are awesome. I go in often. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars there and I'm not really a gamer. But somehow I've come to love this dog. Who doesn't love an underdog?
What Ryan Cohen has been saying, to me, is that it is time for this dog to change. And yes, I catch the connection to Roaring Kitty's dog tweets here. So maybe this is Keith Gill's long awaited transformation. I wish I could hear his thoughts like in his 2020 videos.
But, no, I'm not trying to persuade. I'm just trying to understand.
Is it worth taking that known dog and turning it into an unknown something new?
The biggest question I keep seeing asked is, What do GameStop shareholders get out of this?
And it's a very good question. I get the sentiment. GameStop shareholders have been unbelievable. Any corporate leadership team wishes they had ride or die shareholders like GameStop's. Willing to endure five plus years of drawdowns, massive dilutions, incredible volatility, and remain steadfast. Overcoming extreme fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Often with little news and less candid disclosure.
Well I must say that Ryan Cohen has been more candid in five months than in five years. He has said a lot and I believe he will be saying much more in the five weeks to come before the GameStop and eBay Shareholder's meetings. If he is using Carl Icahn's playbook as well as his law firm, and I believe he is using both, expect the pressure to increase week by week starting with tomorrow's interview.
So here is what I see Ryan Cohen and the board of GameStop saying, to me, one of their fanatic, although to be honest, often skittish household investors. He might even call me a trader, and I wouldn't really complain about the label.
I believe what Ryan Cohen is saying to me is, Newton, I didn't want to run another company. I built Chewy from the ground up as an owner and it was 20 hours a day of work. I started a family and I want to be a husband and father. We hired a team of execs to execute at GameStop and when it wasn't working out, we pivoted and I stepped in. I did everything I could to turn GameStop around. Cut costs, lean into TCG, raise capital into volatility. It worked even though everybody said it couldn't be done. And honestly, Newton, maybe you shouldn't have yolo'd on GameStop, but let's be real, I rescued your investment.
But if you want to see your investment grow and you want to see me function as I can in the CEO role, GameStop is just the cocoon, the beginning. I need to lever up for a minute and get my hands on something bigger - not a small strip mall reseller but a marketplace. That's my wheelhouse. I believe if you give me the chance I can cut costs again, lean into collectibles, and take eBay to 100b market cap. I can't do that with GameStop.
That really is the whole deal right there. Ryan Cohen is pitching that we abandon the known and enter the unknown. Go from a fortress of cash to leverage. Go from local retailer to international marketplace. Go from the Russell to the S&P.
What do GameStop shareholders get?
We get eBay.
It isn't free. It is trading at all time highs with a PE Ratio of 24. But it has positive EPS and can scale. And Ryan Cohen knows its parts and says he can pay off the loan, deleverage, and create shareholder value. He says he wants to roll his net worth into the business and be an owner for life. He is excited, he sounds genuine, and he's always said exactly as he intends to do. And I mean that - go back and read everything he's said or listen to everything he's ever said. It has all pointed to this moment.
So we get an enthusiastic fully engaged and excited Ryan Cohen as well.
Is that worth it to you? Is that worth it to me? To be honest, I'm talking myself into it quite a bit here and that really isn't my intent.
So let me put out there my issues with it.
Firstly, everybody knows how much I do not like leverage. I don't like gambling. I don't like top blasting stocks when the market is giga rallied. I don't like unknowns. I buy treasuries. I sell cash secured puts. I like GameStop because it trades in a predictable range on high volatility and I've made millions of dollars trading it. This changes everything. All models are most definitely wrong now. So I'm not a fan of that at all.
For others, they've seen the dream slip away time and again - the rocket takes off, fizzles, and comes back. And most of the times it has done that, there's been a dilution in close proximity. They see a pattern. They see a dream, MOASS, slipping farther and farther away. I can't speak to those peoples' feelings because as I've said before, I don't believe in MOASS (I believe in Jesus). To me, MOASS is an idea and I don't know if it can happen. So for me, I'm not voting on MOASS. Maybe you are, but what we are both voting on together is change and unknowns.
Yet... I see value proposition here. I'm not trying to be difficult. What if Ryan Cohen builds a personal stake on eBay now in an Icahn-like pressure move? I had said previously, if the compensation package is a defensive poison pill to ensure he maintains 20% control that is designed to free up his capital for an offensive move on eBay, that would be genuinely incredible for GameStop shareholders. So if he suddenly discloses a stake on eBay, I am seeing a lot of shareholder value in the compensation plan.
What if their sellers continue to make noise to their sleepy leadership that apparently has never interreacted with them? What if eBay's shareholders wake up to an activist with allies with skin in the game and start to make noise?
What if the madman does it? What if he really can cut costs, increase sellers and inventory, draw new buyers to the platform, modernize, create efficiencies, revolutionize live selling, and integrate GameStop locations so that sellers like me have a better experience?
Because I'm also an eBay user.
My first sale ever on eBay was against the TOS. I was underage and sold my Ultimate Online account for a few hundred dollars while in high school. That was almost thirty years ago.
Electronics Boutique and eBay. Two staples. The 40 year old virgin meme become reality.
But again, I really don't want to persuade. I just want to think and process and learn.
Can Ryan Cohen do it?
Do I trust him?
Am I comfortable seeing GameStop cease to become the GameStop I feel I very much understand and become something I don't understand? Do I want to own eBay? Do I want to be fully ported into eBay at an all time high?
I think that's what my vote comes down to.
Yours is up to you.
I would ask that you please respect that everybody has the right to think their own thoughts and vote their own way. Please don't spam how you're going to vote here. Discussion is great. Tell me I'm right. Tell me I'm wrong. I love it. But yelling at people how to vote I find distasteful. They bought the right to their vote when they invested just like they bought the right to the warrant. Respect that everybody will vote how they want and leave it be. At the end of the day household won't be the one that matters here anyway, let's be real. The big players hold too many shares and will determine the outcome.
@AustinTobitt I expect other large holding funds (RC allies) to start sending letters today AH expressing lack of confidence in the board and that they would not vote for them. Meaning, many directors will get
Voted out and new board will have to be formed.
Now the proxy fight begins. RC takes the offer directly to eBay shareholders. If something like 90% approve, GME will likely acquire eBay without the board having to approve.
Not clear as of now whether eBay has a poison pill to defend against hostile takeovers, but thats what this has become.
I’ve managed to get about 300 people into the Official PP group chat over the weekend. If you were not added in this first round it’s because you need to fix your DMs by setting up a pin since DMs have been updated. Please ensure you do this and use this new thread to respond if you need to still be added. If you were already added previously please don’t respond here. Thank you for your attention to these matters. I will work through the week to add anyone who is still missing.
Why haven't we heard from a SINGLE Democratic state about steps they're taking to counteract the post-VRA GOP power grabs in Louisiana and Alabama and South Carolina and Tennessee and Texas and North Carolina and Missouri and Florida? Is every Democrat asleep at the wheel? Do you think this is going to fix itself? Why is it so fucking difficult for Democrats to fight back? If you're in power in NJ, NY, MD, CO, IL, WA, OR, wake the fuck up and announce steps to redraw the maps so that Democrats are not drawn out of power forever.
Life is tough for the $GME Shareholder right now. The emotional roller coaster is crazy.
They literally replaced a Kitty tweet..
..With an offering.
And when you thought you’ve seen it all.
@Taylor40102754@PhantomBlack699 If net result is accretive from Day 1, which is what RC seemed to imply, probably no biggie. Still, could add fuel to FUD campaigns to keep price low up to merger closure.
@tweetthisjay@PhantomBlack699 eBay is joining GameStop, they are issued GameStop shares. This won’t require ATMs to gme shareholders. Everyone is acting shocked which makes no sense when we knew the plan all week.