'Flaccid' Digital Names Like Ebay, PayPal Are Targets for AI-Era Buyouts, Friedberg Says on 'All-In'

A new class of takeover targets is emerging in public markets, what "All-In Podcast" co-host David Friedberg describes as a growing set of under-optimized, post-founder internet platforms ripe for reinvention. 

These "flaccid" digital companies — still profitable but operationally stale — are increasingly drawing interest from AI-native operators and activist capital.

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EBAY as the ‘Second Dot’

Friedberg frames the trend as structural, not anecdotal. 

"I think there’s going to be more of these kinds of deals," he said, pointing to Ryan Cohen’s interest in eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) as "probably a second dot on a line that I think is emerging." 

The opportunity, in his view, lies in businesses that "have become mature and old and stale and aren’t run by the founders anymore," and critically, "have not yet realized the opportunities with AI."

Why EBAY and PYPL Fit

Companies such as eBay and PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) exemplify the setup. Both retain strong brand equity and user bases but have struggled to translate that scale into renewed growth. 

Friedberg argues that from an AI-first perspective, the inefficiencies are glaring: "When you take a look at those businesses as a modern-day AI operator, you’re like, what the hell? This thing is so underutilized. They’re not using their network well. They’re not operating well. They’re overspending. They’re not using AI well."

The CHWY and GME Prototype

The Ryan Cohen playbook — first at Chewy Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) and later at GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) — offers a prototype. 

While outcomes vary, the strategy centers on aggressive cost discipline, sharper execution and reorienting legacy platforms toward digital leverage. Friedberg suggests the next evolution goes further: fully "AI-ifying" these businesses.

Capital Meets AI-ification

"There’s a set of opportunities that become quite obvious," he said, particularly as capital markets begin to support these transformations. 

Friedberg pointed to examples like "Josh Kushner’s roll-up of accounting firms" and "General Catalyst has a project like this where you can kind of use capital to go buy … traditional services businesses and AI-ify them," adding, "I think this is part of a line of maybe looking at traditional digital businesses and AI-ifying them."

Other Flaccid Digital Candidates

Beyond eBay and PayPal, potential candidates span a broader universe of stalled internet platforms — companies such as Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ:ZG), Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) and Wayfair Inc. (NYSE:W) — which share similar traits of slowing growth and heavy cost structures.

"There’s a long list of these. There’s a couple dozen of them," Friedberg noted, emphasizing that the real bottleneck is execution. 

"The question as a capital provider is, who do you partner with to go and execute that operational revival of that business?… It’s gotta be the best of the best."

What Investors are Really Looking At

Investors should look at the pattern that Friedberg points to — the next wave of M&A may not target broken companies, but fixable ones.

This image was generated using artificial intelligence via Gemini.