Episode summary
Frisky Dentists | Money Stuff: The Podcast
Money Stuff The Podcast
· · 30 min · Hosts: Matt Levine, Katie Greifeld
Summary
GameStop’s bid for eBay was treated less as a conventional takeover and more as a messy attempt by Ryan Cohen to make himself CEO of eBay. The hosts argued that the proposal is structurally odd because GameStop does not have enough authorized shares, does not have the cash on hand, and appears to have framed a headline-grabbing offer that really boils down to whether eBay shareholders want Cohen running the company. The hosts also noted Cohen’s awkward public message that he “didn’t want to be the CEO of GameStop,” which they read as either a bizarre activist tactic or an unforced error that nonetheless fits the meme-stock tone of the whole episode.
The discussion then shifted to Apollo’s push to securitize private credit through AMAPS, which the hosts described as essentially a CLO for private loans. They argued that the structure reflects two goals: making private credit more tradable, and creating a vehicle that can deliver highly rated paper to Apollo’s insurance platform, especially Athene. That led into a debate over daily pricing, where the hosts said the market is moving toward more frequent marks because Apollo wants a trading market, not just static loans sitting on balance sheets.
The episode closed on Anthropic and OpenAI warning that secondary sales, SPVs, and forward contracts around their stock may be invalid. The hosts said the warnings may be meant to scare off buyers more than trigger litigation, but they could create real trouble if the companies ever decide to unwind questionable transfers from investors like “frisky dentists.”
Key takeaways
- The hosts said GameStop’s eBay bid looks less like a real acquisition and more like Ryan Cohen’s public application to become eBay’s CEO.
- They argued GameStop’s offer is constrained by authorized-share limits, so the “half cash, half stock” math is less important than the governance story.
- Apollo’s AMAPS was described as a CLO-style securitization of private credit, designed to make the asset class more tradable and to feed Apollo’s insurance business.
- The hosts said daily pricing in private credit only makes sense if Apollo eventually wants real secondary trading and live marks.
- Anthropic and OpenAI’s transfer-restriction warnings could deter secondary-market buyers, but the hosts were skeptical the companies will actually sue every challenged holder.
Notable quotes
“I have always long admired eBay's business and I didn't want to be the CEO of GameStop”
“I think they enjoy being negged”
“Apollo is bringing back a thing that looks like CLOs”
“you can borrow from Apollo in a direct credit in a direct loan, in which case your loan will end up in a what's called an AMAPS”
“I often describe Goldman Sachs as a human assembly line”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. I am so tickled that Bloomberg just has like loose Starbursts as a snack option.
At least for this week. I'm most tickled by the chocolate-covered Swedish Fish. Yeah.
My children are occasional Swedish Fish eaters. Katie's going to unwrap and chew a Starburst on this podcast. This is I'm going to I'm going to tilt the mic away as I chew it.
I haven't had lunch and I have a bucket of Starbursts I'm hoping you're going to talk for like at least 15 seconds so I can eat this. 15 seconds. I feel like a Starburst is like a 2-minute proposition.
Anyway, Swedish Fish, chocolate-covered Swedish Fish. I'm killing time now as Katie chews. Chocolate-covered Swedish Fish just loose in a in a big tank.
My children are sort of Swedish Fish eaters and I want to bring to them the obvious pleasures of chocolate-covered Swedish Fish, but I can't just take a handful of this.
No, you got to wrap it in a napkin or something. Is that I haven't yet figured out transporting the chocolate-covered Swedish Fish. To your point on time about Starbursts, I eat a lot of Starbursts. I keep a bag of Starbursts
Them whole? Yeah, pretty much in my car. So, I pretty much optimized my process. — All right. All right. Good good. I have not. So, I'm I'm not going to attempt a Starburst during this podcast. — Going to take you a while. You've got a lot of Starbursts there, so. Do you want to talk about real estate? Is it boring? Is it kind of boring?
No, it's been pretty cutthroat. This past week has been pretty harrowing in terms of, you know, the tightrope we're walking when it comes to our real estate dealings right now.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- gamestop ebay
- authorized shares
- activism
- cdo clo structured finance
- private credit
Companies and tickers mentioned
- GME
- EBAY
- GameStop
- eBay
- Anthropic
Watch the episode
Watch “Frisky Dentists | Money Stuff: The Podcast” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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