Keith Gill, the meme stock investor who sent GameStop stock soaring during the pandemic, has taken a multimillion-dollar stake in Chewy.
Gill, who goes by the nickname “Roaring Kitty” on submit posted on Monday. Based on Chewy's stock price on Friday, which was $27.24, Gill's purchase means he now has a $245 million stake in the company. Chewy's stock price jumped as much as 15% on Monday on news of Gill's investment.
Chewy did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
That investment comes a week later, Gill Posted an image of a cartoon dog with no accompanying text on his Roaring Kitty X account. The post gave shares of Chewy, PetMed Express and Petco a temporary shock.
Gill's puppy post came a day after Chewy announced it would spend $500 million to buy back 17.5 million of its own shares. Companies typically buy back shares to increase their earnings per share or to increase returns for existing shareholders.
Roaring Kitty is known for moving the markets by simply posting cryptic images on social media. Last month, after the end of a roughly three-year hiatus from social media, Roaring Kitty once again sent GameStop shares soaring after it posted image of a sketched man leaning forward in a chair at X. The post was followed by a number of others, featuring various comeback-themed videos and film clips with charged music.
Gill's online influence was established in 2021 after he rallied hordes of amateur investors online to invest in struggling video game retailer GameStop, sending the shares – which Gill had begun buying the year before – soaring in what became known as the first meme stock frenzy.
“I believed [GameStop] “was dramatically undervalued by the market,” Gill said while testifying before the House Financial Services Committee in 2021. “The prevailing calculus about GameStop’s impending demise was simply wrong.”
Sure, Gill made a profit after promoting the purchase of GameStop shares, but he also lost a lot later. For example, in 2021, Gill revealed that he had lost $13 million in one day as shares of the gaming retailer fell.
Gill's investments in GameStop eventually became a cornerstone storyline in the 2023 film “Dumb Money,” in which Gill is played by actor Paul Dano.
