GameStop meme lord behind stock’s wild moves reveals himself after three years
By Krystal Hur, CNN
New York (CNN) — Keith Gill is back.
The famed meme stock icon, also known as “Roaring Kitty,” made a long-awaited appearance on a livestream on his YouTube channel Friday.
Sporting long hair, a thick bandage wrapped around his head, gaudy white sunglasses, a sling and a beer, Gill livestreamed against a background of Yahoo! Finance’s GameStop stock ticker page.
“It’s been a few years now. I hope y’all are good,” said Gill, a native of Brockton, Massachusetts. “This is me, by the way. I see a lot of question marks — ‘Is he back? Is it someone else?’ I mean, can you tell it’s me now?”
Gill confirmed that he is behind the posts on his X and Reddit accounts, and that the screenshots he has uploaded on the latter platform are of his own portfolio. “These are my positions. I’m not working with anyone else. I’m not working with hedge funds,” he said.
Gill had communicated exclusively by posting memes, gifs, short video clips and screenshots of his portfolio until the livestream, leaving it unclear if it even was Gill behind the social media posts.
GameStop shares slid during his livestream and were halted several times for volatility. The livestream lasted roughly 50 minutes, much shorter than his previous livestreams that typically went on for several hours.
“What can I say about GameStop? I mean, the funny thing is that I have a lot of the same feelings about everything,” said Gill. “They’re in the transformation stage here. … I feel like I see enough. I believe (CEO Ryan Cohen) might be able to do it.”
In a surprise move, GameStop brought forward its first quarter earnings to Friday from next Tuesday. The video game retailer recorded a loss of $32.3 million, slightly better than the $50.5 million loss the prior year. First quarter sales slipped to $0.9 billion, from $1.2 billion the year before.
Gill cautioned that while he has faith in Cohen, traders should reach their own conclusions.
“It remains to be seen. You should keep your eye on stuff, too, reserve the right to change your mind just like I do. Don’t follow anyone blindly,” Gill said.
Shares of GameStop slid more than 39% on Friday, notching its worst day since February 2021. The video game stock has seen wild swings in recent weeks reminiscent of the meme stock craze after Gill’s return to social media in May.
Gill also acknowledged reports that E*Trade is considering removing him from its platform and said that he logs on every morning wondering if he’ll be able to access his account.
He shared another update on his portfolio, which showed he has not sold any of his 5 million shares or exercised his 120,000 call options after his last update on Thursday. His total GameStop holdings were worth more than $300 million as of mid-day Friday, down roughly $200 million after the stock’s steep losses during the trading session.
The-CNN-Wire
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