‘Roaring Kitty’ increases the GameStop (GME) stake after exercising options

Photographer: Daniel Acker / Bloomberg

The Reddit user who contributed to the rise in GameStop Corp.’s stock price this year. has doubled his bet by exercising his call options and buying even more shares.

Keith Gill, nicknames “Roaring Kitty” and “DeepF___gValue”, posted a screenshot of his portfolio showing that he exercised 500 GameStop call options expiring on Friday at a strike price of $ 12, giving him an additional 50,000 shares. The stock closed at $ 154.69 on Friday.

In addition, Gill bought an additional 50,000 shares from the video game retailer, effectively doubling his holdings from 100,000 at the start of the month to 200,000 shares. His total investment in GameStop is now worth more than $ 30 million, bringing him a profit of nearly $ 20 million.

Gill’s mother, Elaine Gill, who could be reached by phone at his family home in Massachusetts, confirmed the Reddit screenshots posted by her son.

Gill rose to fame this year as one of the most influential voices on Reddit and YouTube amid an attempt by retailers to suppress GameStop short-sellers. He testified at a Congressional hearing in February, where he said he had not called on anyone to buy or sell the stock for profit.

The comments came when he was hit with a lawsuit in which he was accused of misrepresenting things as an amateur investor. The lawsuit alleges that he was actually a licensed securities professional manipulating the market for profit, which he denied.

Read: Roaring Kitty Sets Herself As A Solo Trader, GameStop Fan

On Friday, George Sherman, GameStop’s Chief Executive Officer, who is expected to leave, sold nearly $ 12 million in shares. The company is looking for a new CEO as part of an uproar spurred by activist investor and Chewy.com co-founder Ryan Cohen, a knowledgeable person has said.

Shares of GameStop are up 721% so far this year, although they are less than half of their January peak.