GameStop stocks jump after CEO resigns, ‘Roaring Kitty’ raises the stakes

GameStop bounced back on Monday after the brick-and-mortar video game retailer announced its succession plan as it tries to turn to ecommerce following a historic Reddit-fueled brief push earlier this year.

Shares of GameStop were up more than 11% in early trading, starting at around $ 172.

The company said Monday that Chief Executive Officer George Sherman will step down on July 31 or earlier following the appointment of a successor. The board of directors is leading a search for CEO candidates with the capabilities and experience to help accelerate the next phase of the company’s transformation, GameStop said in a statement.

While GameStop stock fell well off the record high of $ 483 in January, the stock is still up a whopping 720% for 2021. To capitalize on the massive rally, GameStop announced a $ 1 billion stock sale in early April to close the stock. accelerate stock sales. e-commerce transition led by activist investor and board member Ryan Cohen, co-founder of Chewy.

The company also hired Jenna Owens, former president of Amazon and Google, as its new Chief Operating Officer.

Some investors also take comfort in Keith Gill’s move Friday to double his GameStop bet, losing millions of dollars in quick profits on an options trade. Gill is arguably the biggest influencer in Reddit’s retail industry.

The investor, who goes through DeepF —— Value on Reddit and Roaring Kitty on YouTube, exercised his 500 GameStop call option contracts when they expired on Friday, giving him an additional 50,000 shares at a strike price of just $ 12. had he sold the options at Friday’s price, he could have made more than $ 7 million on the bet.

In addition to exercising these options contracts, Gill bought an additional 50,000 GameStop shares, bringing his total investment to 200,000 shares valued at more than $ 30 million.

Gill’s trading information is according to his Reddit posts which appear to be snapshots of his investment account. The messages have not been independently verified by CNBC.