Roaring Kitty Is Back, Sends GameStop Stock Price Soaring Again
Roaring Kitty, the persona behind the market-disrupting GameStop short squeeze in 2021, is back online after three years of social media silence.
On Sunday, Keith Gill, the man known as "Roaring Kitty," posted on X (formerly Twitter) a photo of a man sitting forward on a chair. According to the Associated Press, the meme was used by gamers to show "things are getting serious."
The image didn't come with a caption but it was enough to cause a frenzy on social media and send GameStop's stock price up again.
The initial tweet has since been viewed 22.8 million times with 112,000 likes, 29,000 retweets and 10,000 comments as of writing.
Roaring Kitty then went on a meme-posting spree, sharing several clips hinting at his return online. This led GameStop's stock price to soar over 100% on Monday as the market opened.
From the previous close of $17.46, the stock hit a high of $36.70 on the day, according to data from Google Finance. It closed with an increase of 75%.
Roaring Kitty, a YouTuber and stock influencer, became a prominent figure in the stock market in 2021 after helping lead a movement to buy thousands of GameStop shares through posts on Reddit's r/wallstreetbets. The video game retailer, which was on the verge of bankruptcy then and was being short-squeezed by investors who were betting against the stock, found its stock price surging, disrupting the market.
The matter also became the subject of a House committee hearing at the time.
The GameStop stock scandal inspired the 2023 movie "Dumb Money" which starred Paul Dano, Shailene Woodley and Pete Davidson.
Other meme stocks also benefitted from Monday's short squeeze, with AMC being up 50% during the session. Trump Media & Technology also saw an 8% increase, Yahoo! Finance noted.