He’s not exactly Bill Ackman, who yesterday acquired a net worth of $8.5 billion after selling a stake in his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, but after two years of doing little, Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, it’s not bad either.
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Estimates suggest he has already made $6.8 million in paper profits on his $65.7 million in call options for GameStop, which has risen 87% in value over the past month and briefly surged 70% yesterday from Monday. Bloomberg says he’s sitting on a paper profit of $170 million, but would have to spend $240 million exercising the options to get to all that.
Gill became a meme-stank sensation in 2021, when he flew past the names Roaring Kitty on YouTube and DeepF-ingValue on Reddit and talked about the value of Gamestop stock, which he has repeatedly stated he has a genuine preference for. However, the CFA Institute knew him only as Keith Gill and dismissed him when it became clear that he was also a Charterholder with a job at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., and that he had not declared his Kitty activity to FINRA. Gill then went quiet after appearing at a US House Republican hearing and declaring he was not a cat.
Now he’s back and the fans are here for it. “This guy is a savage,” says someone named Caffeine and Ketamine on the Reddit thread where Gill trumpeted his new Gamestop position. “Get the nipple cream ready, monkeys,” says another.
However, not everyone is so sure about the new Gill. The Wall Street Journal reports that E* Trade is considering banning him from its platform. It’s concerned about stock price manipulation, but it probably doesn’t help that E*Trade’s systems crashed in May when Gill first resurfaced, causing a flurry of meme stock activity. Hank Medina, the man behind the Litquidity Instagram account, has wondered about the new Gill. “Keith now just posts random images to prime a pump,” he said on Twitter yesterday. “It feels wrong that he’s essentially front-loading every GameStop pump by buying more shares/calls and then continuing to tweet knowing the retail traders will drive the price up insanely.”
Morgan Stanley, owner of E*Trade, is said to have its global financial crimes unit and outside advisers discuss whether Gill’s actions were legal. However, the bank is also wary of banning him from the platform and drawing the ire of his meme army. “It’s going to be one hell of a ride, boiz,” says one.
In addition, Financial News suggests that jobs in France, Germany and Milan may not be as secure as once thought. Goldman Sachs cut 5% last year, while JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley added 544 and 100 people respectively.
In the meantime…
Forget Jain Global, Diego Megia launched Taula Capital Management with $5 billion on day one. He employs 68 people in London, Jersey, New York, Dubai, Milan and Switzerland. (Bloomberg)
Panmure Liberum will eliminate more than twenty positions after the merger. (Bloomberg)
“The landscape of structured equity products has changed enormously. In the past, it was more expelled from Europe and Asia. Now much of that activity has shifted and America is in the driver’s seat. Margins in the business are also shrinking as more banks invest in this space and automation increases. Issuance volumes are high, but we are not seeing the same increase in bank revenues.” (IFR)
If you are in contact with someone between the ages of 18 and 34, it helps to text before calling. (WSJ)
If your salary were to double from $50,000 to $100,000, it would typically need to be doubled again to $200,000 to generate an equivalent happiness boost. (WSJ)
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