Business
GameStop Stock Ticks Higher as Ryan Cohen Presses Aggressively On With Rejected $125-a-Share eBay Bid
GameStop shares rose 0.83% Monday morning, trading at $21.86, as investors continued to weigh the video game retailer’s unusual pivot toward e-commerce ambitions, highlighted by Chief Executive Ryan Cohen’s continued pursuit of an unsolicited $125-per-share acquisition offer for eBay that the online marketplace’s board has already publicly rejected.
Monday’s modest gain came after a volatile stretch for GameStop shares, which remain closer to their 52-week low of $19.93 than their high of $28.10. The stock has traded within a range of roughly $21.66 to $22.02 over the past several sessions, moving on relatively light volume compared with the company’s average daily trading activity of around 4 million shares.
Much of the recent movement in GameStop’s stock has centered on the company’s continued pursuit of eBay. On May 3, GameStop delivered a non-binding proposal to eBay’s board of directors to acquire all outstanding shares it does not already own for $125 apiece, to be paid through a combination of cash and GameStop common stock, a deal reportedly valued at approximately $55.5 billion. Barchart reported that GameStop’s proposal followed the company’s earlier surprise announcement of interest in eBay, part of a broader strategy under Cohen to deploy the retailer’s substantial cash position toward transformative acquisitions well outside its traditional video game business. eBay’s board has already rejected the unsolicited offer, though Cohen has indicated plans to appeal directly to eBay shareholders in an effort to keep the pursuit alive, according to Yahoo Finance.
To support that continued push, GameStop stockholders approved a series of proposals at the company’s 2026 Annual Meeting, held July 7, including an amendment increasing the number of authorized shares of Class A common stock to 2.5 billion. The amendment passed with 68.7% of votes cast, according to a company statement, providing GameStop with additional flexibility to issue stock in connection with major strategic transactions, including a potential acquisition of eBay. Stockholders also re-elected all five director nominees at the meeting, with Cohen himself receiving the highest share of favorable votes among the nominees, and approved both an advisory vote on executive compensation and the ratification of the company’s independent auditor.
GameStop’s position in eBay itself remains structured through a combination of direct share ownership and derivative contracts. The company directly owns roughly 4.3 million shares of eBay common stock and has entered into put/call option transactions providing economic exposure to an additional 39 million shares, agreements set to expire in February 2028. After GameStop satisfied a Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act condition on June 3, those option positions became eligible for physical settlement rather than remaining limited to cash settlement, though GameStop does not hold voting or dispositive power over the underlying shares unless and until that physical settlement actually occurs. According to CoinCentral, the combined direct and derivative positions give GameStop economic exposure to roughly 9.8% of eBay.
The July 7 annual meeting also resolved a separate point of controversy that had complicated GameStop’s broader corporate narrative in recent weeks. Ahead of the meeting, Cohen withdrew a proposed shareholder vote on his own performance-based pay package, an arrangement that involved 171.5 million stock options structured across nine tranches tied to market capitalization and EBITDA milestones, with a theoretical maximum payout that could have approached $35 billion if every target were met. The proposal had drawn scrutiny in part because critics argued that completing the eBay acquisition could itself help push GameStop toward the market cap and profitability thresholds required to unlock a portion of that reward, creating what some viewed as a potential conflict of interest tied directly to Cohen’s pursuit of the deal. A shareholder lawsuit had also sought to delay the July 7 vote on the compensation package entirely, accusing GameStop of a “bait-and-switch” through changed voting rules and an allegedly misleading proxy statement. By withdrawing the compensation proposal ahead of the vote, Cohen removed that specific controversy from consideration at the meeting.
Alongside its regulatory filings reaffirming the eBay pursuit, GameStop also raised its financial outlook for the year, projecting adjusted EBITDA above $600 million for fiscal 2026, nearly double the $345.4 million the company reported in fiscal 2025. That improved guidance came on the heels of a strong first-quarter report, in which GameStop posted net sales of $835.3 million, up 14% year over year from $732.4 million in the prior-year period, while selling, general and administrative expenses declined to $201.6 million from $228.1 million. The combination pushed operating income to a record first-quarter level of $143.3 million, with net income climbing to $389.6 million from $44.8 million a year earlier and adjusted earnings per share improving to 30 cents from 9 cents. GameStop’s balance sheet remained a particular point of strength, with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling approximately $8.4 billion and total liquidity near $9.7 billion, positioning the company well to fund a major acquisition should the eBay pursuit ultimately advance.
GameStop has also continued expanding beyond its traditional video game retail business in other ways, launching Power Packs, a digital trading card platform aimed at building out its presence in the broader collectibles market, and approving a new $2 billion share repurchase program extending through 2029. According to Yahoo Finance, collectibles have grown to represent 41.8% of GameStop’s first-quarter revenue, reflecting the company’s continued shift away from its historical reliance on physical video game sales, a trend reinforced by Sony’s recent announcement that it plans to end production of physical PlayStation game discs by 2028.
Despite the improved financial results and the strategic ambition behind the eBay pursuit, Wall Street analysts have remained broadly skeptical of GameStop’s current valuation. The average analyst price target on the stock stands at $13.50, according to Barchart, implying substantial downside of more than 37% from recent trading levels, with Wedbush among the firms maintaining a particularly cautious stance on the shares. Traders Union analyst Viktoras Karapetjanc characterized the company’s authorized share increase as a fundamental shift that expands GameStop’s flexibility for major deals while simultaneously raising dilution risk for existing shareholders, noting persistent bearish technical momentum in the stock following recent support-level breakdowns. “Unless we see a decisive move above resistance, I expect sellers to stay in control in the short term,” Karapetjanc said, pointing to the $22.31 level on the Ichimoku Kijun indicator as a key technical threshold that would need to be cleared for any sustained recovery in the shares.
GameStop is scheduled to report its next quarterly earnings on September 9, a date investors are likely to watch closely for further updates on both the company’s core retail performance and the ongoing status of its pursuit of eBay, a deal that remains far from certain given the target company’s public rejection of the initial offer and the substantial scale of the transaction relative to GameStop’s own market capitalization.
Philip Morris shares may move 4.9% on July 22 earnings report
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday announced a $24 million effort to help revive American shipbuilding, his latest move under the bank’s $1.5 trillion security project aimed at bolstering industries critical to U.S. economic and national security.
The figure includes $18 million in loans and $6 million in grants to finance a new submarine manufacturing facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard being built by Rhoads Industries, expand lending to maritime-related small businesses and strengthen regional suppliers, JPMorgan said.
“The arsenal of democracy has been reignited,” Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin.
“People said it couldn’t happen, but here you have Hanwha shipbuilding at the Philadelphia Navy Yard,” Dimon said, naming a South Korean conglomerate with a U.S. vessel-making subsidiary.
The announcement comes as rising geopolitical tensions, including wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, spur governments to rearm and reinvest in domestic industrial capacity.
Last year, JPMorgan launched a $1.5 trillion initiative to finance sectors it considers critical to U.S. economic and national security, including shipbuilding. The firm announced an expansion of the program into Europe this year.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ in a wide-ranging interview on AI risks, stablecoin regulation, housing affordability and his recent meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon is validating the growing frustration of working-class Americans, admitting in a recent interview that he completely understands why many have grown “anti-rich.”
The Wall Street billionaire argued that decades of ineffective public policies have left lower-income families behind in struggling rural areas and inner cities, forcing them to navigate failing schools and rising crime while wealthy elites remain insulated from those problems.
“The anti-rich thing has been around a long time, and I do understand it because I think, separate the two pieces, the piece that’s really important is that we have, in fact, left the lower-income folks behind,” Dimon told Axios. “And I remind people who are well off that they don’t worry about their schools. They don’t live in crime-ridden neighborhoods. So if you are making less income in your poor rural area or an inner-city area, your schools aren’t good. You go to crime-ridden neighborhoods – more divorce, less jobs, all the things that, yeah, it’s becoming de-generational. So let’s acknowledge it and fix it.”
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“All of us, Democrats, including unions, Republicans should say, ‘That shouldn’t happen that way.’ And the policies that created that were both Democrat and Republican. All of those policies did not work in the inner cities,” he continued.
Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jamie Dimon speaks during an event on Liberty Island in New York City, on July 1, 2026. (Getty Images)
“If you were the average citizen here and you say, ‘These wealthy people are getting unbelievably wealthy, and this segment has been left behind,’ that’s kind of annoying. Now, if we look at America in truth from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s to 2020s, Americans have been doing much better, including the lower income.”
Data from the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts highlight a highly concentrated wealth distribution in the United States. The bottom 50% of households hold a combined $4.27 trillion of the nation’s roughly $174 trillion in household wealth.
Charles Payne and Daniel Lacalle express confusion over the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, questioning why they slow the economy when wages rise and hike rates when gas prices are already high.
In contrast, the top 0.1% of ultra-wealthy individuals command about $25.07 trillion, while those in the 99th through 99.9th percentiles own just under $30 trillion.
“I’ve been complaining a little bit about, I’ve just been speaking about, the fraying of the American Dream for years. And I think you have to acknowledge that there’s a flaw. And it’s more for the lower-paid individuals in America,” Dimon said.
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Longtime NYSE trader Peter Tuchman shares his perspective on the American Dream and the resilience of the market from the exchange floor.
“We asked our team… What more can JPMorgan do?” Dimon detailed the “Vital Institutions” initiative, which directs capital, banking and philanthropic support to organizations like hospitals, universities and local governments to boost low-to-moderate-income communities.
“Economic strength is somewhat predicated, affected – it’s life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and equal opportunity. So if you wanna have an equal opportunity country, you need to do some of these things to give people more opportunity,” he said.
Pythia Research focuses on multi-bagger stocks, primarily in the technology sector. Our approach combines financial analysis, behavioral finance, psychology, social sciences, and alternative metrics to assess companies with high conviction and asymmetric risk-reward potential. By leveraging both traditional and unconventional insights, we aim to uncover breakout opportunities before they gain mainstream attention. Our multidisciplinary strategy helps us navigate market sentiment, identify emerging trends, and invest in transformative businesses poised for exponential growth. We don’t just follow the market—we anticipate where disruption will create the next big winners.Markets don’t move purely on fundamentals; they move on perception, emotion, and bias. We lean into that reality. Investor behavior, anchoring to past valuations, herd mentality during rallies, panic selling from recency bias, creates persistent inefficiencies. These moments of mispricing often mark the start of a breakout, not the end of one.Rather than avoid psychological noise, we analyze it. When the crowd sees volatility, we assess whether it’s driven by emotion or fundamentals. Status quo bias can keep investors blind to companies redefining their category. Fear of uncertainty can delay recognition of businesses with clear but unconventional growth paths. We look for these disconnects.Our process blends deep research with signals others miss: sudden shifts in narrative, early social traction, founder-driven vision, or underappreciated momentum in developer or user adoption. These are often the precursors to exponential moves, if you catch them early.We focus on conviction plays, not safe bets. Each opportunity is evaluated for Risk/Reward profile: limited downside, explosive upside. We believe that the best returns come from understanding where belief is lagging reality.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of PLTR either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Business
NSA warns Russian hackers exploiting vulnerable internet routers to infiltrate business networks
Former White House ‘AI czar’ David Sacks discusses AI regulation, competition with China and the risks of advanced AI-powered ‘cyber weapons’ on ‘Kudlow.’
The National Security Agency is warning that Russian government-backed hackers continue targeting internet routers used by businesses and critical infrastructure, urging organizations to shore up basic network security to reduce the risk of cyber intrusions.
In a joint cybersecurity advisory released Monday, the NSA, FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and nearly 20 allied cybersecurity agencies said cyber actors linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, have spent years exploiting vulnerable or poorly configured networking devices to gain access to sensitive networks.
The advisory said organizations in the financial services, energy, communications, healthcare, government and defense industrial base sectors have been affected. Officials said those industries play a critical role in the U.S. economy.
IBM SENDS ‘SHOCKWAVE’ THROUGH TECH INDUSTRY WITH AI WARNING
Officials said the campaign frequently relies on poor “router hygiene.” (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Rather than launching disruptive attacks immediately, the hackers often scan the internet looking for outdated or improperly secured routers, then quietly copy device configuration files that can contain administrator credentials, network layouts and other information useful for gaining deeper access into an organization’s systems, according to the advisory.
Officials said the campaign frequently relies on poor “router hygiene” – basic security practices such as keeping router software up to date, replacing default passwords with strong, unique credentials and disabling unnecessary remote management features.
The advisory said organizations in the financial services, energy, communications, healthcare, government and defense industrial base sectors have been affected. (Getty Images)
HACKERS ARE GOING AFTER WHATEVER THEY CAN ATTACK TO MAKE NEWS, RUBRIK CEO SAYS
Officials said many of the attacks can be prevented by following a handful of basic cybersecurity practices, including updating router software and firmware to patch known vulnerabilities, using stronger authentication methods, restricting access to network management tools and replacing legacy security settings with more modern protections.
The advisory builds on an earlier FBI warning about Russian cyber activity targeting networking devices, saying the campaign has persisted for more than a decade and continues to threaten critical infrastructure worldwide. Officials said the same defensive measures can also help protect organizations against similar tactics used by other sophisticated hacking groups.
Officials said many of the attacks can be prevented by following a handful of basic cybersecurity practices. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Cybersecurity researchers have tracked Russian activity under several names over the years, including “Dragonfly,” “Energetic Bear” and “Ghost Blizzard,” though different security firms use different naming conventions for the same threat actors.
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The warning was issued jointly by the NSA, FBI, CISA, the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center and cybersecurity agencies from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and numerous European allies, underscoring what officials described as an ongoing threat to organizations that rely on internet-connected networking equipment.
Company debuts french fry-inspired, fruit-forward flavored frozen novelties.
Global flavors were trending on the show floor.
Karl Hersvik
Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Aker BP’s second quarter presentation. It was a quarter of strong operational execution and robust financial results. Production averaged 384,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day and operating cash flow was $3.1 billion. And we have raised the lower end and narrowed our production guidance for the year.
Our major projects remain on track with important milestones across Yggdrasil, Valhall PWP–Fenris, Skarv Satellites and Johan Sverdrup Phase 3. At the same time, we continue to strengthen the portfolio for future growth, including through a new strategic collaboration with Equinor. We also maintain a robust financial position with $6 billion in available liquidity and an unchanged quarterly dividend.
Operationally, this was a quarter shaped by seasonally high level of activity with continued high efficiency across the portfolio. Production was lower than in the previous quarter, mainly due to planned maintenance at Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen combined with normal quarter-to-quarter variations. Despite these planned impacts, production efficiency was 94%, a very strong performance by industry standards. Production costs increased to $8.8 per barrel, mainly reflecting planned seasonal activity across the portfolio, including maintenance at Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen, diving operations at Alvheim and well intervention activity
Vladimir Dimitrov, CFA is a former strategy consultant within the field of brand and intangible assets valuation. During his career in the City of London he has been working with some of the largest global brands within the technology, telecom and banking sectors. He graduated from the London School of Economics and is interested in finding reasonably priced businesses with sustainable long-term competitive advantages.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of CVX either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Please do your own due diligence and consult with your financial advisor, if you have one, before making any investment decisions. The author is not acting in an investment adviser capacity. The author’s opinions expressed herein address only select aspects of potential investment in securities of the companies mentioned and cannot be a substitute for comprehensive investment analysis. The author recommends that potential and existing investors conduct thorough investment research of their own, including a detailed review of the companies’ SEC filings. Any opinions or estimates constitute the author’s best judgment as of the date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Always on the hunt for undervalued, promising stocks with a focus on risk and reward. Limited risks and decent to high upside by knowing what one’s owning. I strongly believe that the best investment ideas are often the simplest. If contrarian, the better.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
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