70 Trillion Won Acquisition Bet Backfires… 1.4 Trillion Won Meme Stock Vanishes in a Day

GameStop Corporation (GME), the poster child of U.S. meme stocks, plunged 10.86% to close at $23.65 on the New York Stock Exchange on April 4, erasing roughly $1.04 billion in market value—about ₩1.4 trillion—in a single session. Trading volume reached 25.69 million shares, leaving its market capitalization at approximately $10.6 billion (around ₩14 trillion).

The day before, GameStop submitted a non-binding proposal to e-commerce firm eBay’s board to acquire the company for about $56 billion (₩70 trillion) in a mix of cash and stock, and warned it would consider a hostile takeover if necessary. As eBay’s board weighs the offer, concerns over how the deal would be financed, the dilution impact of a large share issuance, and doubts about closing the transaction have dampened investor sentiment.

GameStop, which operates brick-and-mortar video game retail stores in the U.S. and abroad, became synonymous with the meme-stock craze triggered by a retail-driven short squeeze in 2021. Today, under the leadership of Ryan Cohen—founder of pet supplies retailer Chewy—the company is aggressively pursuing a digital transformation, bolstering its e-commerce business and targeting major M&A to build a $100 billion-scale platform.