The man at the center of the pandemic meme stock craze returned to social platform X for the first time in three years and sent the prices of some of those stocks soaring at the opening bell Monday.
Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” posted an image of a man sitting forward in his chair on Sunday, a meme used by gamers when things get serious.
He followed that tweet with a YouTube video from years earlier, saying, “That's all for now because I'm out of breath. FYI: Here is a short 4 minute video I put together to summarize the $GME bull case.
GameStop was a video game retailer that struggled in 2021 as consumers quickly switched from discs to digital downloads. Gill and those who agreed with him changed the trajectory of a company that seemed headed for bankruptcy.
At Monday's opening bell, Gill appeared to have revived that interest as shares of GameStop doubled, the biggest intraday jump since the 2021 meme frenzy. Other meme stocks like theater chain AMC also rose in the extreme volatile trading.
GameStop trading was halted seven times in the first hour of trading on Monday due to volatility, and this wasn't the only one.
Gill became a cause célèbre in 2021 after his posts in the Reddit subcategory Wallstreetbets sparked a battle between thousands of smaller retail investors and large hedge funds that bet heavily on GameStop's survival and shorted the stock.
The little guys won, at least for a while, sending GameStop stock up more than 1,000% in 2021, and other meme stocks as well. Struggling movie theater chain AMC rose 2,300% in the same year.
Those meme stocks rose again early Monday.
Shares of GameStop Corp., which have steadily faded since 2021, are up nearly 70%. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. increased by 23%.
Koss Co., a headphone maker, rose 52% and BlackBerry, once the dominant smartphone maker, rose 7%. The retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond, another meme stock, sought bankruptcy protection last year.
But some meme stocks, including GameStop and AMC, had already climbed higher again, and quickly.
Shares of GameStop Corp., which have steadily faded since 2021, already rose 57% this month. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. was up 10% in the past 30 days.
Gill, or Roaring Kitty, largely disappeared from message boards after posting a video of kittens going to sleep in June 2021.
The story of Roaring Kitty and the meme stock craze was turned into a movie last year called “Dumb Money.”
