The man credited with starting a runup of GameStop's stock price and other so-called meme stocks has posted on social media for the first time in three years and sent the stocks surging at the start of the trading week on Wall Street.
Keith Gill, better known as "Roaring Kitty," posted an image on X on Sunday of a man leaning forward in his chair. The meme is used by gamers when things are getting serious, the Associated Press reported.
Video game store GameStop was struggling back in 2021 when Gill and others sought to boost the company's stock price.
The stock price rose to $120.75 in January 2021. Later that year, "Roaring Kitty" went silent. GameStop hit a three-year low of $9.95 last month but the stock had been surging in May.
Now "Roaring Kitty" is back.
— Roaring Kitty (@TheRoaringKitty) May 13, 2024
After Sunday's simple post, shares of GameStop doubled in price at the market open. Trading of shares was quickly halted, as is policy when any stock makes radical moves. Later some of the gains evaporated but the stock was still up more than 68% on the day.
Other meme stocks like the theater chain AMC were also getting a boost from the GameStop price surge.
Late on Monday morning he also posted a video that used a clip of Marvel character Wolverine.
— Roaring Kitty (@TheRoaringKitty) May 13, 2024
It was unclear if "Roaring Kitty" had purchased shares before Sunday's post in an effort to quickly profit from a skyrocketing stock price.
While GameStop's stock price has risen, its business model remains under pressure.
It posted revenue of $1.79 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with $2.23 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, CNBC reported.
