Shares of popular meme stock GameStop are rising again after a social media post claimed that an investor known as “Roaring Kitty” owns a significant stake in the video game retailer.
The company's shares opened at more than $40 a share on Monday, up more than 70% since Friday, before slipping back down slightly.
The spike came after a Reddit account linked to Keith Gill shared screenshots claiming that he owned 5 million GameStop shares – around 2% of the company's stock – worth more than $100m (£78m).
The post was one in a series made by Roaring Kitty's account over the past few weeks after it had been silent for an extended period of time.
The authenticity of the post could not be verified, and neither Gill nor GameStop responded to emails seeking comment.
Gill rose to fame in 2021 after encouraging an army of online investors to back GameStop.
That sent the struggling company's stock price unexpectedly soaring, putting financial strain on Wall Street boutiques that had bet against it.
According to postings from that year, Gill held about 200,000 shares, worth $30.9 million.
Shares of so-called meme stocks, such as AMC and BlackBerry, whose price rises and falls seem unrelated to business fundamentals, also rose on Monday.
Analysts had argued that the initial rally in meme stocks was driven by a surge in savings and time for many households during the pandemic, due in part to government assistance programs and the halting of many in-person activities.
As the market has risen again this year, trading firms including Charles Schwab and Robinhood have reported a resurgence in new account openings and trading by individual investors who are not employed by investment firms or other private companies.
GameStop profited last month after raising $933 million from a stock sale.
But the move has caused unease in the financial industry and in Washington, which hosted hearings on the GameStop phenomenon in 2021.
Jay Clayton, a former financial regulator who ran the Securities and Exchange Commission under former President Donald Trump, likened it to gambling in an interview with business broadcaster CNBC last month.
“It concerns me on a number of levels,” he said. “It's more like gambling than trading, and it's certainly not investing.”
“Is this something that should be tolerated in our market?” he added.
“I don't think it matters whether it's legal or illegal.”
