GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has withdrawn a bonus plan that could have paid him as much as $35 billion, saying he wants the company’s leadership to be focused on operating performance and its proposed acquisition of eBay, the company said Tuesday.
GameStop added that it will release additional materials regarding its proposed eBay buyout this week
Among the disclosures planned for this week, GameStop said, are a detailed presentation laying out the case for the deal and a plan for how the two businesses would operate together after a combination. An eBay spokesman had no comment on GameStop’s statement, according to Reuters. To qualify for the award, which was introduced in January, GameStop would have needed to hit a market cap of $100 billion and post $10 billion in EBITDA, Bloomberg reported.
GameStop said that when its board approved the pay plan, it had not yet decided to pursue eBay. In a separate filing Tuesday, the company said the bonus plan’s terms would have been adjusted had GameStop used stock to fund an acquisition. Last week, an investor filed a proposed class-action suit in Delaware’s Chancery Court seeking to halt the pay package until shareholders received fuller disclosures.