GameStop shares were down to nearly 40 percent on Friday after putting out a lackluster earnings report and announcing a share sale.
Also, their most famous meme stock hero, "Roaring Kitty," had his first live stream in three years.
Shares of Gamestop stock had earlier surged in premarket trading on Friday after the “Roaring Kitty” account linked to investor Keith Gill scheduled a livestream at noon.
The stock was up 33 percent in the early hours of Friday morning after spiking 47 percent on Thursday to close at $46.55.
By the day's end, it had plummeted by $18.33—down 39.38 percent— finishing at $28.22.
Earlier in the week, a Reddit user believed to be Mr. Gill posted that they’d paid $175 million for a position in Gamestop that was valued at almost $210 million, causing shares to rise. Since then, Gamestop has had a roller coaster of ups and downs.
Thursday, after the markets closed, the same Reddit user posted a screenshot of their portfolio showing a $382 million unrealized gain due to the Gamestop option and stock holdings.
If Gamestop stock is above $20 on June 21, Mr. Gill will make money because he can buy the stock at $20, no matter what the price is. If the price is below $20, he will lose money.
Mr. Gill famously drove the “meme stock” rise of Gamestop in 2021 as a reaction to rumors that the company would go bankrupt. At the time, investors jumped on the stock and drove it up 2,000 percent before it came back down to reasonable levels.
Mr. Gill was later sued by investors for manipulating the price of the stock and had to testify before Congress about his actions.
He was not formally charged with a crime and faded away into obscurity when he stopped posting on social media.
None of the recent posts have used Mr. Gill’s face or voice, so it has been unclear whether it is actually Mr. Gill making the posts.
Because Mr. Gill made the purchase using E*Trade, then posted about it, the platform could kick him off for manipulating the price of the stock. It has not done so thus far, however.
At 9 a.m. Eastern Time, Mr. Gill’s YouTube account had more than 27,000 people waiting to hear what he had to say. By noon, the number was more than 456,000.
Mr. Gill kept his viewers waiting almost half an hour before he started the livestream with a disclaimer not to take his words as advice or recommendations.
He showed up to the stream with a sling on his arm and bandages on his face, but it was all a joke related to the three years since he last posted anything on social media.
He reassured his viewers that it was really him on the stream, and confirmed he had been the one posting his stock position in Gamestop and other posts over the last month that have shaken up the stock price.
During the stream, the stock price initially jumped to over $35 a share, but had dropped to $27.65 by the time the stream ended at 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Gill said that his previous feelings about Gamestop were still valid. He still likes the company and wants to give it more time to reinvent or “transform” the business model.
He joked about the reaction to his posts over the past week, saying, “A post here and there, and everyone goes crazy. What is that about?”
He also repeatedly asked whether he was allowed to give opinions or share screenshots of charts and other information, showing some trepidation that could stem from previous legal activity against him.
About half an hour into the stream, he put his E*Trade portfolio up on the screen to show his positions.
He alluded to rumors that E*Trade would cancel his account, saying that he woke up each morning to check his positions and make sure they were still there.
While the livestream didn’t seem to have the intended effect on the stock price in the short term, it is still above the $20 Gill needs, for now. It is also significantly higher than the $18 to $19 it was before Gill began posting a month ago.