Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty” on X and YouTube and as “Deep-------Value” on Reddit, hosted his first livestream since the meme stock craze that took place three years ago.
Shares of GameStop were halted multiple times during his stream, which began 25 minutes after the scheduled 12 p.m. ET time. The stock was last down nearly 40% on the day.
Shares of GameStop, which also reported its quarterly results four days ahead of schedule on Friday, shot up nearly 50 per cent the day before after Gill, the key figure behind an eye-popping rally in the struggling company's stock in 2021, posted on YouTube about the upcoming livestream.
On the livestream, Gill said he was confident in GameStop billionaire CEO Ryan Cohen.
"I believe this guy," he said about Cohen. "It's kind of based on feeling."
GameStop is “right-sizing” the ship and cutting costs to stabilize the legacy business and “now it’s all about the transformation,” he said.
The company said it would sell up to 75 million shares, but did not respond to a request for more details on the timing of the capital raise and the reason for the early release of its earnings report.
"There's an old saying: feed the ducks while they're quacking and certainly the ducks are quacking very loudly for GME right now," said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.
"That's part of the reason why the company pushed its earnings date forward, because there were rules against selling stock ahead of a major corporate announcement like earnings."
A spokesperson for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment on whether it was reviewing the share sale.
In 2021, Gill's championing of GameStop helped its shares rally by as much as 1,600 per cent before they tumbled. He won a cult-like following among some investors and notoriety with others.
Gill has helped attract a flood of retail cash to the beleaguered bricks-and-mortar retailer with his bullish case on Reddit posts and YouTube streams where he often appeared wearing a bright red pirate bandana.
But after drawing congressional and regulatory scrutiny for his role in the extraordinary saga, Gill quickly disappeared, albeit much richer thanks to his GameStop investment, which at one point touched $48 million in value.
His apparent return has sent GameStop shares soaring in recent weeks. They rose nearly 150 per cent since May 13, when an account on X linked to Gill began posting memes that some investors viewed as a sign of him being bullish on the company.
Just last month, GameStop said it made more than $900 million by selling 45 million shares as it took advantage of the revival meme-stocks rally.
"Strike while the iron is hot. AMC was applauded for making use of their stock price surge to clean up its balance sheet, so it's not surprising that GameStop would take a page from their playbook," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.
Theater chain AMC Entertainment, also a retail darling, completed a $250 million "at-the-market" share saleduring the meme-stock craze last month.
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