GameStop shares as Keith “The Roaring Kitty” Gill, architect of the meme stock craze, returns to social media

GameStop stock soared on Monday after the same amateur trader who sparked the 2021 meme stock frenzy surrounding the video game retailer returned to social media.

GameStop shares were up nearly 70% Monday morning, up from Friday’s closing price of $17.39 to about $30 a share. GameStop shares peaked at just under $36 on Monday morning, the highest since 2022.

GameStop’s stock resurgence began with a Sunday evening social media post by Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill that made the case for buying the company’s stock in 2020 and laid the foundation for a frenzy that continues in 2021. It looked like it.

Gill posted a photo on social platform X of a man suddenly sitting upright in a chair, without any text or message. This is his first appearance on the platform since June 2021, when he posted a short video of several sleeping kittens on X before going silent for nearly three years.

Gill was better known through his YouTube videos and presence on the Reddit community r/WallStreetBets as a user named “deepf—ingvalue.” He and WallStreetBets’ individual investor executives launched a “short squeeze” on investors who had bet on GameStop, forcing a major New York hedge fund into huge losses.

GameStop struggled in the aftermath of the pandemic as consumers rapidly switched from discs to digital downloads. Gill and his supporters revitalized a company that seemed headed for bankruptcy.

GameStop stock peaked at nearly $82 in January 2021, then tumbled and rebounded in 2021 and 2022. The meme stock frenzy caused an uproar on Wall Street and raised concerns among policymakers who feared the impact of social media on stock market fluctuations.

Gill and his employer, MassMutual, were inundated with lawsuits, but they were not criminally charged, despite calls from Wall Street leaders for a frenzied crackdown on meme stocks.

Some meme stocks, such as GameStop and AMC, were already rising before Mr. Gill’s return.

GameStop stock had already risen 57% this month. Another meme stock target, movie theater chain AMC Entertainment, is up 10% over the past 30 days.

The Associated Press contributed.