Updates shares in paragraph 2, adds background in paragraphs 7-10
Oct 29 (Reuters) - Keith Gill, the stock influencer known as Roaring Kitty, has dissolved his entire stake in pet products retailer Chewy CHWY.N, a filing with the U.S. SEC showed on Tuesday.
Chewy's shares fell nearly 2% in extended trading.
Known for his cryptic posts, Gill uses platforms like YouTube and Reddit to disclose his trading positions.
In July, the stock influencer unveiled a 6.6% stake in Chewy, an e-retailer selling pet food and medicine, days after Gill posted a picture of a dog on his X account.
Gill did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Chewy stake is Gill's first known investment beyond videogame retailer GameStop GME.N.
There is a link between Gill's investments — Ryan Cohen, the billionaire founder of Chewy, who sold it in 2017, is now CEO of GameStop. Gill has praised Cohen in his social media posts in the past.
Once an office worker, Gill shot to fame after his cat memes and exuberant YouTube streams, in which he frequently wore a bright red pirate bandana, drew thousands of copycat bets on GameStop, crushing hedge funds that had bet against the stock.
Gill's investment had raised concerns among Chewy's top brass about asset managers, who are shareholders, potentially being put off by the ensuing volatility in the stock fueled by Gill's army of individual investors, a person familiar with the company's thinking told Reuters in July, when Gill disclosed his stake.
Roaring Kitty sent GameStop shares soaring in 2021 with a series of social media posts that drew a flood of retail money into the company. He won notoriety and a cult-like following among some investors.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram, Sriparna Roy and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
((Akash.Sriram@thomsonreuters.com; On X as @HoodieOnVeshti; +91-74116-87774))