The face of 2021’s meme-stock craze is back with a post on X. The single meme sent GameStop’s stock surging, eventually halting trading due to volatility.
Keith Gill, better known as Roaring Kitty on YouTube and social media, returned to the platform previously known as Twitter for the first time in nearly three years Sunday, May 12. His cryptic post of a man playing video games leaning forward in attention sent GameStop’s stock up 40% in pre-market trading.
As fans woke up to the news of Gill’s return, GameStop shares spiked as much as 110% once markets opened, causing the listing exchange to halt trading.
Gill later posted multiple meme-laced videos to his X account, including one featuring Thanos from the Avengers films saying, “Fine. I’ll do it myself,” an apparent nod to Gill’s power within the meme-stock community.
A second video featured a clip from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” possibly suggesting Roaring Kitty’s return may already be over.
The meme-stock movement reached its peak in early 2021 as retail traders on Reddit invested in companies like GameStop, AMC and RadioShack. GameStop shares exploded more than 1,000% in January 2021, becoming a cultural phenomenon.
Gill’s affinity for the stock manifested in posts on Reddit and his YouTube channel for months before it made headlines.
The GameStop rally with retail traders in the driver’s seat put a short squeeze on some massive hedge funds like Melvin Capital, which had a huge short position on the gaming retailer. The hedge fund lost 49%the first quarter of 2021 and needed a nearly $3 billion injection to help fight off the squeeze.
The situation culminated in retail trading platform Robinhood limiting trading on GameStop. It eventually resulted in several congressional hearings and the movie “Dumb Money.”
Gill’s most recent post before Sunday was a montage of sleeping kittens. Since posting the cat nap in June 2021, GameStop has had little good news to wake him from his three-year slumber.
GameStop’s stock surged 60% in the first 10 days of May before Gill’s resurgence. Yet the company is still struggling. It reported weak sales for 2023 and laid off an undisclosed number of employees in response.
