Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill returned to Twitter last month and sent GameStop’s stock price on its biggest roller coaster ride in years, and all with a mere series of random meme montages. Now he’s posted what might be a glimpse of his portfolio, including 5 million shares of GME, and the stock is spiking once again in theatrics that theoretically could have netted the former insurance marketer hundreds of millions in profit.
The YouTuber seemingly shared his current position on GameStop under his “DeepFuckingValue” alias on the Superstonk subreddit last night. A screenshot showed he owned roughly $175 million worth of GameStop stock at the close of the bell on Friday, May 31. It included 120,000 call options to buy additional stock at just $20 through June 21, meaning that he has the opportunity to continue buying low even if the stock price exploded again. He also posted a picture of a green Uno reverse card on Twitter.
At least, that is what everyone seems to believe. Since his seeming return to social media in mid-May, Gill still hasn’t put out any new videos verifying he’s active again. Someone could have hacked his account, or the screenshot could be completely bogus. None of that stopped the GameStop stock price from blowing up in after-hours trading. It went as high as $40 before dropping to $30 after the market opened today, boosting Gill’s apparent GameStop position by $50 million.
Gill, who was played by Paul Dano in the Dumb Money Hollywood dramatization of 2021’s original GameStop meme stock saga, has been MIA for years after seemingly leaving the internet to focus on his family. When his account started posting again last month, the stock had reached its lowest price yet following quarter after quarter of declining revenue, fumbled pivots, employee layoffs, and executive departures. It hit over $48 on May 13 before collapsing again by the end of the week.
The community of GameStop true believers, who have made conspiratorial speculation about the ailing video game retailer into a personality-type, felt abandoned all over again when Gill’s seeming return was cut short. Now he, or someone at least, has them riled back up again. The Superstonk subreddit in particular is celebrating like someone just invented a cold fusion reactor. Adding to the mystique is that close watchers of GME stock had been tracking a possible “whale” hoovering up call options. That person seemingly being revealed to be Gill has given the meme stock cult a new lease on life.
GameStop’s board took the opportunity last month to capitalize on the renewed stock shenanigans and raise $900 million in capital through sale of additional shares. It could give the gaming chain another shot at transforming itself into something new. Or it could double down on selling Funko Pop! and rare Pokémon trading cards.
Update 6/3/2024 4:39 p.m. ET: The DeepFuckingValue Reddit account just posted an update after the market closed showing that he hasn’t liquidated his position yet, which increased its value by $78 million today.
As Matt Levine at Bloomberg points out, $174 million is a lot of cash to front and it’s hard to believe Gill was able to front it all by himself. The Wall Street Journal reports that E-Trade is considering kicking him off of its platform, though a final decision hasn’t been made yet.