A single social media post ensured the best trading day for low-traded stocks in the United States and more money in the pockets of billionaires like Donald Trump.
“Meme stocks” came back into the spotlight last Monday (13) after “Roaring Kitty,” a financial analyst and famous influencer on social media, suddenly reappeared. Kitty was an enthusiast of these stocks, and the highlight of the day’s trading was the 74% increase in the video game store company GameStop. However, other meme stocks also benefited from the news – as did the billionaires behind these companies.
GameStop’s gain was the largest since February 2021. The stocks reached a price not seen since August 2022. On Tuesday (14), the rally continued, with the stocks rising about 40%, and the stock price at $42.98.
Some minority shareholders benefited from the movement, but no one profited as much as Ryan Cohen, CEO of GameStop and the company’s largest individual shareholder, with a 12% stake. According to Forbes, Cohen became $480 million richer just on Monday, reaching a fortune of $4.2 billion.
AMC was another “meme stock” that surged with “Kitty’s” return, the pseudonym of Keith Gill, the face of the 2020 and 2021 short squeeze when day traders joined forces to force billions in losses on institutional investors.
The cinema chain’s stocks were part of the analyst’s picks in operations from four years ago and rose 78% on Monday. Like GameStop, this was the best trading day for the stocks since June 2021, reaching the highest price since January.
Less obvious than the gains of these two companies, which were already “Kitty’s” picks in 2020, was the rise of the stocks of the social media Reddit and Trump Media, which increased by up to 9% each, their respective two-month intraday highs.
Reddit just went public and reported a good financial balance a week ago, with a 48% annual revenue increase and above market estimates. Its advance after “Kitty’s” return is related to the analyst’s choice of the platform for his comeback. The short squeezes of 2020 and 2021 were organized on Reddit.
As for Trump Media, it has no direct relation with the analyst, other than being a “meme stock” like GameStop and AMC. The rise in the stocks on Monday earned $100 million for the main shareholder, former President Donald Trump, who holds 85% of the stocks, according to Forbes. With this, Trump’s net worth rose to $8 billion.
