“Can y’all hear me right now?” Keith Gill began his broadcast. “I kinda forget how to do this.”
Back in 2021, the influencer better known as Roaring Kitty led a crusade by retail traders which triggered the extraordinary surge in GameStop, an embattled video games chain – and left Wall Street scrambling. Gill became an internet star, and even testified to Congress about his bullish stance on the stock.
Then he disappeared from view. For years after the turbulent stock market frenzy, Gill was silent online. Even as the story of his battle against the financial establishment was transformed into a Hollywood movie, he kept mum.
A string of cryptic social media posts signaled last month that Roaring Kitty had awoken from his three-year nap, reigniting a volatile rally of GameStop shares. But they raised more questions than answers.
When Gill resurfaced on YouTube on Friday, hundreds of thousands of viewers were waiting. Yet those who tuned in looking for clarity were in for a disappointing 50 minutes.
Back in 2021, when shares in GameStop first soared, it was a loss-making enterprise, struggling to find its place in gaming’s modern era. Three years later, it remained unprofitable in the first quarter, struggling to find its place in gaming’s modern era.
Its latest earnings, released shortly before Roaring Kitty went live, outlined a sharp drop in sales since the start of the year. GameStop also confirmed plans to sell up to 75m more shares, capitalizing on its stock’s latest jump.
“The Company will not be holding a conference call today,” GameStop said in a brief press release, offering no explanation for its weak results. Its shares tanked by as much as a quarter, and trading was repeatedly halted.
The retailer was unprepared to address the market, but one diehard believer was happy to oblige. Gill reappeared with his arm in a sling, a bandage on his head, plasters on his face and sunglasses. A life support machine could be heard in the background, before he pretended to die.
“Oh shit, that was a close call,” he laughed, thanking viewers for bringing him back to life. GameStop’s share price, however – shown live in the background – was looking anything but healthy.
Gill was keen to dispel the rumors. “This is me, by the way,” he said, stressing that he was, indeed, in control of his trading and social media accounts, and not working with anyone else.
So why the comeback?
There’s “no real gameplan”, clarified Gill, despite speculation he might provide new information to explain his confidence in a declining retailer. Instead, he rambled about movie memes, played with a Magic 8 Ball and thanked followers for their well-wishes ahead of his birthday.
“It’s been a few years now. I hope you all are good,” he said. “It’s pretty good to be back, y’know?”
Far from revelation, Gill delivered a reiteration of his longstanding belief that GameStop’s management would, one day, somehow, revitalize the chain. This is “not a guarantee”, he added hastily, but the man leading the company, the billionaire entrepreneur Ryan Cohen, “seems to be doing the right things”.
“In this case the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence,” he insisted of GameStop’s turnaround. As it became evident any significant news would be absent from his live stream, though, shares in the firm continued to sink.
“I’m not saying any of the right things,” he continued, as the stock drifted lower. “I’m saying the wrong things right now. Where’s the eject button?”
After a while, he found it. “Cheers to y’all for now,” said Gill, chugging a beer before signing off. “We’ll see what happens from here.”
Shares in GameStop closed down 39% on Friday.
• This article was amended on 13 June 2024 to clarify that a reference to Gamestop remaining unprofitable since 2021 was in relation to its first quarter performance.
