GameStop shares plunge, halted during Roaring Kitty livestream

Shares of GameStop, the video game retailer and meme stock sensation, plummeted on Friday afternoon and were repeatedly curbed by a livestream from the investor behind the frenzy.

GameStop shares fell more than 33% just after 12:45 p.m., 45 minutes after investor Keith Gill, known as Roaring Kitty, began his highly-anticipated live presentation on YouTube. The New York Stock Exchange halted trading of GameStop shares. 12 and up Stocks fell sharply at various times throughout Friday.

Nearly four years after Gill ignited the 2021 meme-stock boom with his fanciful bet on GameStop Corp., helping to spur a further rise in the retailer’s shares last month, the Massachusetts-born former financial adviser had been silent on social media for years after he and his legion of amateur internet traders faced the wrath of Wall Street and Washington.

GameStop shares have risen more than 90% in the past month since Gill returned to social platform X with a series of cat photos. But the stock remains well below its all-time high of more than $81 on Jan. 29, 2021, and the stock has since crashed.

While Gill’s followers and meme stock traders believe his actions are no different from those of Wall Street investors who tout their holdings in media interviews, financial experts have expressed concern about the lack of clear investment logic behind some of the meme stock positions.