The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has opened a formal Phase 1 review of eBay’s planned $1.2B acquisition of Depop from Etsy. Regulators have until August 6 to either approve the deal or escalate it to a deeper Phase 2 investigation of the resale-fashion market. If the clearances fall through, eBay could owe Etsy a $90M termination fee plus a new Business Disruption Fee of up to $136M, a combined exposure as high as $226M. The review also lands while GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen presses an unsolicited $56B bid for eBay, adding pressure on management to prove that spending big on Depop is a smart use of capital.
