GameStop, AMC shares skyrocket after Roaring Kitty returns; Dave Portnoy pumps $1 million into market



A stock trader who goes by the name Roaring Kitty returned to the limelight, sparking a market frenzy around stocks that are considered meme stocks, which are seemingly propped up by the momentum of the internet.

Keith Patrick Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, was known for starting a firestorm in the meme stock category by encouraging a short squeeze on the GameStop (GME) stock in 2021 and then disappearing from the online community.

Gill returned by posting a meme on May 12, 2024, at 8 p.m., and by the next morning, the GameStop stock prices had once again soared.

The meme in question simply showed a person playing a video game and making a motion of leaning in, which is a metaphor for taking things seriously. A nearly identical meme was posted by GameStop in February 2024 with the caption "casual to competitive" on the image.

The morning of May 13, 2024, GameStop shares opened at around $21. Within 24 hours, they nearly quadrupled to around $80.

GME wasn't the only meme stock to see resurgence either.

'Every time I think I'm out they pull me back in!'

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Movie theater AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC) saw similar gains.

AMC opened May 13 at around $3.10, then also approximately quadrupled in 24 hours to over $12.50 per share.

Both of the brands were helped not only by the circulation of the meme and the many memes to follow but by Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy once again injecting himself into the fray.

"You wanna get nuts [Roaring Kitty] let's get nuts!" Portnoy wrote on X. "Every time I think I'm out they pull me back in!" he added.

"Breaking news, I can't f***ing miss a f***ing 50 year storm. You wanna f***ing party, let's f***ing party," Portnoy said in his breaking news video.

The sports brand operator then announced that he was buying $500,000 worth of AMC stock and $500,000 in GameStop stock.

"You wanna know who's on this ship? I'm on this f***ing ship. Let's f***ing go!" he added.

You wanna get nuts @TheRoaringKitty let's get nuts! Every time I think I'm out they pull me back in! #GME #AMC #ddtg
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Both GameStop and AMC were seen as struggling and nearly extinct franchises in 2021 until Gill gained national attention for his remarks on GameStop. The meme stocks then took on a life of their own through Reddit.

Trading was pushed to its height through the Reddit group Wall Street Bets, along with Portnoy and Gill.

Portnoy even had a very public clash with the CEO of trading app Robinhood over the company's decision to stop trading on GameStop shares.

Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev went head to head with Portnoy on Fox News, with Tenev saying his company supports "the little guy."

"We're all about that," he added.

"You did something and gave a huge advantage to the big guy. That is the exact opposite of helping the little guy. You killed the little guy," the Barstool Sports founder came back.

Mainstream stock advisers warned casual traders about this latest trend.

Roaring Kitty "seems to be the most likely suspect for the renewed interest [in the stocks] but I would be careful not to characterize the participants in this phenomenon as investors," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth told Reuters.

Gill, on the other hand, has seemingly done nothing but post memes and movie clips since the stocks have once again become their own unpredictable entities.

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As the US prepares for a recession, more companies announce massive layoffs; Robinhood slashes an additional 23% of its staff



Slowing business growth and economic recession fears are forcing corporations to find cost-cutting solutions. As a result, the summer of 2022 has become the season of massive nationwide job cuts.

Robinhood, a California-based financial service company, is the latest organization to announce staff cuts. On Tuesday, Robinhood reported that it would be slashing an additional 23% of its workforce. In April, the company laid off 9% of its staff.

CEO Vlad Tenev blamed rising inflation and a drop in user activity. Customers of Robinhood use the platform to buy and sell stocks, but Americans have reduced their trading activity because of recession fears.

Vlad stated in a press release on Tuesday that since the layoffs in April, “we have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash. This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody.”

Oracle, a computer technology firm, has also started laying off staff on its marketing, sales, and customer experience teams. While Oracle has not reported the total number of staff it plans to let go, the Independent speculated that it could be thousands.

Shopify was another big name that reduced its workforce. In July, the company dropped 10% of its staff. The CEO of Shopify, Tobi Lutke, explained that the company had previously hired too many people to handle the increase in online shopping activity but that the demand had since slowed.

Ford Motor Co. announced last month that it would focus its efforts on building an electric vehicle fleet. The car manufacturer reported that 8,000 jobs would be cut from its combustion engine automobile division and the funds would be reallocated to electric vehicle production.

Carvana was one of the first companies this summer to reduce its staff. The online car retailer laid off 12% of its workers in May. Tesla followed in July by removing 229 employees from its team.

CEOs everywhere are bracing for an economic recession. Economists at S&P Global Ratings predicted a 2.4% decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of the year. The Department of Labor reported that 244,000 people filed for unemployment last week, the highest number of applicants in eight months.

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