Yahoo Finance Andrew Left, Burned in 2021 Meme Mania, Is Short GameStop Again
(Bloomberg) -- The latest GameStop Corp. frenzy has coaxed a big critic of the meme-stock craze – and a notable loser back in 2021 — off the sidelines with a new short position.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Key Engines of US Consumer Spending Are Losing Steam All at Once
GameStop Shares Surge as Gill’s Reddit Return Shows Huge Bet
Mnuchin Chases Wall Street Glory With His War Chest of Foreign Money
Homebuyers Are Starting to Revolt Over Steep Prices Across US
AMLO Protege Sheinbaum Becomes First Female President in Mexico
Andrew Left, the founder of Citron Research, placed a new bet against the video-game retailer whose stock price soared as much as 75% Monday after Keith Gill, an investor and meme stock influencer who goes by DeepF---ing Value on Reddit, showed a stake of five million GameStop shares. In May, Left also announced a short position in the company’s shares.
“I have covered my short from May, and then I re-shorted it today,” Left said in an interview with Bloomberg, while noting that the position is smaller than his previous ones without disclosing its size.
GameStop’s leap at the start of trading added about $6 billion to its market capitalization and triggered a trading halt for volatility. The stock pared a chunk of the gain after it resumed trading, but was still up more than 30% in the early afternoon on Monday. The shares remain far below their closing peak of $86.88 on Jan. 27, 2021.
Meme stocks have been a stock market fascination for a few weeks once again since the return to social media of Gill, who goes by “Roaring Kitty” on X. Gill rose to fame in 2021 by rallying retail traders on Reddit. Indeed, it was a June 2 post on Reddit that fueled this most recent trading flurry in shares of the beleaguered video game retailer.
“He might as well be a hedge fund manager,” Left said.
For his part, Left was hit hard in the previous meme stock saga, as a bearish bet on GameStop led to staggering losses for Citron Research. His firm has also been at the center of a U.S. Justice Department investigation into short selling by hedge funds and research firms.
In early 2021, Left announced that the firm would no longer publish short selling research, ending a two-decade-long practice. He has since returned to writing them, albeit less frequently.
“I don’t have any ill will towards the company,” Left said. “It’s not even a company, it’s a trading vehicle.”
Read this next: The GameStop Squeeze and the Demise of the Short Seller
--With assistance from Sam Potter and Bailey Lipschultz.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Disney Is Banking On Sequels to Help Get Pixar Back on Track
The Budget Geeks Who Helped Solve an American Economic Puzzle
Israel Seeks Underground Secrets by Tracking Cosmic Particles
How Rage, Boredom and WallStreetBets Created a New Generation of Young American Traders
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
