Inspired by Musk's Twitter takeover, Cohen argues that bloated headcounts at large companies stifle innovation. He believes smaller teams foster a 'startup mode' mentality, enabling faster execution. He plans to apply this playbook to eBay, questioning the need for 11,500 employees in an asset-light business.
Cohen's strategy is to leverage GameStop's 1,600 physical stores as authentication centers for collectibles sold on eBay. This synergy addresses the key e-commerce challenge of trust and creates a physical-digital moat that online-only competitors cannot easily replicate, turning retail locations into a strategic asset.
Cohen is attracted to durable platforms like eBay that he describes as being 'run like a public utility'—so ingrained they survive despite years of neglect and competitive attacks. His investment thesis focuses on acquiring these resilient but under-managed assets where an 'owner's mentality' can unlock enormous dormant value.
Unlike traditional activists who might settle for board seats or policy changes, Ryan Cohen clarifies his objective is complete operational control. He states, 'the goal here isn't to be an activist. The goal is I wanna own eBay. I wanna run eBay.' This reframes his public pressure campaign as a direct means to an acquisition.
Cohen believes established brands with universal name recognition, like GameStop and eBay, derive little value from large marketing budgets. He claims he cut GameStop's SG&A by 47% ($800M) by 'almost turning off marketing' and plans to apply the same aggressive cost-cutting playbook to eBay's $2.5B spend.