Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

May 05, 2026

Buenos días and happy Cinco de Mayo! The holiday commemorates the defeat of French forces by the Mexican army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, but its popularity jumped in the 1980s, when beer companies began to leverage Cinco de Mayo in marketing campaigns. These days, Mexico sits on top of the beer world, producing ~30% of the world’s beer imports and shipping more than double the volume of beer as any other country.

And speaking of notable brews…meet Founder Brew, our newest newsletter. It’s built for founders, aspiring founders, startup investors, and anyone obsessed with understanding what it takes to build a great company. It’ll cover the hard choices, trade-offs, and lessons that define great builders. It’s launching today, so subscribe now to get the first edition.

—Matty Merritt, Sam Klebanov, Dave Lozo, Neal Freyman, Abby Rubenstein

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

GameStop’s CEO not quite explaining how he’ll pay for eBay
Conflict heating up in the Strait of Hormuz
Why everyone was mad about this year’s Met Gala

MARKETS

Nasdaq

25,067.80

-0.19%

S&P

7,200.75

-0.41%

Dow

48,941.90

-1.13%

10-Year

4.446%

+7.0 bps

Bitcoin

$80,367.67

+1.52%

UPS

$96.31

-10.47%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Stocks fell while oil rose yesterday as the ceasefire in Iran was tested from both sides. UPS and FedEx slipped after Amazon announced that it was expanding its logistics business.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

GameStop offers $56b it doesn’t have for eBay

CNBC

Like believing you can move that Facebook Marketplace side table via Citi Bike, GameStop is feeling ambitious. The company most famous for riding meme-stock mania made an unsolicited ~$56 billion bid on Sunday to buy the much larger, online resale marketplace eBay. But…its CEO couldn’t quite explain to CNBC yesterday how the company planned to pay for it if the offer is accepted.

Wall Street responded with its version of a laugh. EBay was valued at $46 million before the offer. Its stock jumped 5% yesterday following the offer. GameStop was already worth just $12 billion, about a fourth of eBay, at market close Friday. Its stock dropped over 5% yesterday.

How would GameStop pay for this?

GameStop is offering to acquire eBay at $125 per share through a 50% cash, 50% stock deal.

But…GameStop only has about $9 billion in cash available, and even with the $20 billion in financing from TD Bank it has lined up (but not officially locked in), there’s still a pretty big funding gap:

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, the billionaire co-founder of Chewy, went on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” where journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin asked about the roughly $16 to $20 billion difference.
It got awkward as Cohen kept repeating that it would be “half cash, half stock,” not providing additional details and referring viewers to his company’s website. If you’re confused, so was Sorkin. (Watch it here.)

It wouldn’t be the first time a much smaller company bought above its weight class, and it definitely wouldn’t be the first time a buyer relied on massive debt (that’s why we’ve got the term leveraged buyout). However, the lack of clarity didn’t help sell the vision.

GameStop’s big plans to overhaul eBay: EBay has lost revenue and market share to retailers like Amazon and TikTok Shop, but it’s already in the midst of a massive turnaround that analysts say is working. Cohen thinks eBay would benefit from Gamestop’s brick-and-mortar locations as hubs to host live video streams for selling and to use as authentication and fulfillment centers. He’s also in favor of slashing the company’s marketing budget.

Looking ahead…EBay said it had received the offer and would review it, but analysts predict the sale won’t come together.—MM

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WORLD

Tour de headlines

Amirhossein Khorgooei/Getty Images

Iran ceasefire shaky after attacks escalate. With the US drawing Iranian attacks while attempting to usher boats through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, the ceasefire that the US and Iran agreed to last month appeared even more fragile. The US military said it had gotten two American-flagged merchant ships through the strait and that it had sunk six small Iranian boats targeting ships there, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, the UAE, a US ally, suffered its first attacks from Iran since the ceasefire took hold. President Trump refrained from calling Iran’s actions a ceasefire violation, however, referring to the escalating tension as a “mini-war,” per the Wall Street Journal.

SCOTUS temporarily restores access to abortion pills by mail. The Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s ban on sending the abortion pill mifepristone through the mail for at least a week, as it considers an appeal from the companies that make the drug. The drug is used in about two-thirds of all US abortions. Louisiana sued over a 2023 FDA decision that allowed doctors to prescribe mifepristone without seeing the patient in person, and on Friday, a federal appeals court sided with the state. Drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro then asked the high court to intervene. Yesterday’s SCOTUS order did not address the substance of the case but restored broad access to the drug for now.

OpenAI’s president testifies after revelation that Elon Musk tried to settle. Yesterday, OpenAI President Greg Brockman became the latest high-profile executive to take the stand in Musk’s lawsuit over OpenAI’s pivot to becoming a for-profit. Brockman, who has not invested his own money in the company, told the court that his stake in OpenAI is currently worth $30 billion. But the biggest surprise came in a filing from OpenAI, which claimed Musk reached out to Brockman two days before the trial began, seeking a settlement. “By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America,” Musk reportedly texted, referring to the CEO of OpenAI. “If you insist, so it will be.”—AR

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

The places with well-paying jobs for college grads

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Recent college grads who start twitching whenever an older adult asks them “so, what’s next?” might want to consider moving to Birmingham, AL.

At a time when many companies have dialed back entry-level job postings, Birmingham has the most favorable employment conditions for young people with a college diploma among large metro areas, according to a report published this week by payroll firm ADP.

Hiring hubs

ADP ranked 53 metro areas based on hiring momentum for young college grads, wages, and affordability:

Birmingham earned the top spot due to strong job growth and its median annual wage jumping 16% from last year. Tampa–St. Petersburg, FL, followed due to hiring growth, while the greater San Jose area in California rose to third, thanks to local tech companies hiring at high salaries.
San Francisco joined New York City in the top 10—both buoyed by relatively solid hiring and high pay, despite the stratospheric cost of living.

Meanwhile, Raleigh, NC, lost its top spot from the last two years, moving down to fourth place. Phoenix plunged from 8th place to 22nd.

Big picture: Though there are signs that entry-level hiring is rebounding, it’s still rough out there. Unemployment for young degree holders jumped to 5.6% at the end of 2025, up from 4.8% a year before, per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.—SK

Holiday trivia

Here’s a question for Cinco de Mayo. The Mexican flag depicts two animals: What are they?

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ANSWER

An eagle and a snake (the eagle is eating it).

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: stratospheric, meaning “exceptionally high.” Thanks to Jenna from St. Louis for hitting the heights with the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

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