GameStop Stock Jumps as Speculation Over Roaring Kitty Intensifies

GameStop's stock price popped this morning, with the video game retailer’s share price continuing to improve after it raised more than $2 billion—and all while traders speculate over the next moves of meme stock influencer Roaring Kitty (aka Keith Gill).

On June 7, GameStop filed to sell up to 75 million shares of its common stock at its market value of the time of $46.55—which has been inflated over the past couple of months due to Roaring Kitty’s return. The company announced late Tuesday that it sold the maximum number of shares registered with the SEC, raising $2.137 billion in the process.

GME jumped 14% in early trading this morning, rising from $29.29 at open to a daily high of $33.50. However, it has since cooled to $31.35, marking a 3% rise on the day since Tuesday's close.

That's a stark difference to the last time GameStop announced it was selling additional shares. Back in May, GameStop filed to sell 45 million shares, resulting in its stock price tanking—and Roaring Kitty again left social media for a while.

This all comes amid the company being the subject of an internet storm stirred up by Gill, better known as Roaring Kitty or DeepFuckingValue. On Thursday, he posted his GameStop holdings on Reddit community SuperStonk, prompting speculation that he could become a billionaire (at least on paper) if the price kept climbing.

Kitty didn’t reach that peak, however, after a disappointing Q1 earnings report dropped the next day and sent the stock tumbling—all before Roaring Kitty started livestreaming on YouTube for the first time in three years. The stock continued to fall over the coming days, with the influencer taking to Twitter to apparently poke fun at his own misfortune.

He hasn’t disappeared like last time, however. Instead he’s continued to post memes on Twitter and give more Reddit updates on his GME positions, which are now down over $350 million from last Thursday through the end of the trading day Monday.

Some fans and GameStop traders are getting antsy without a daily holdings disclosure on Tuesday, questioning whether he’s still holding his position or has made a move—but a cryptic Twitter post injected hope into the community. 

The GameStop bull posted a meme from the U.S. version of the popular sitcom “The Office” of a young Michael Scott shaking his boss's hand. This meme, as defined by Know Your Meme, is used to “express feelings of meeting an elder when they were young.”

Like many of Gill’s memes, it's unclear exactly what his intentions are with the post. But the boss in the suit has the GameStop logo emblazoned on it, and the young Michael Scott has a cat sticking out of his front pocket.

Some traders have speculated that it's a sign that Gill is joining the GameStop board. This comes after an unverified document circulated on social media, suggesting that GameStop will expand its board from five to seven members in an alleged move to bring Gill onboard.

That’s purely speculation for now. But Gill has become the unofficial face of the company amid the meme stock movement, and has driven substantial value to the share price amid his bull posting in 2020/2021 and again lately.

And with a claimed holding of 5 million shares, Gill is one of the largest GME holders, beaten only by a handful of institutional holders and mutual funds as of disclosure reports from earlier this spring. Whether GameStop will want to make such a move—and whether Gill wants to work from inside the company instead of outside—remains to be seen.

Edited by Andrew Hayward