Who is Roaring Kitty, the Reddit Trader Behind GameStop’s Stock Mania?
Reddit under the pseudonym" width="970" height="647" data-caption='Keith Gill began posting stock analysis on social media in 2014. <span class="media-credit">Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</span>'>
On May 12, Keith Gill, often referred to by his YouTube and X account name “Roaring Kitty,” posted on social media for the first time in nearly three years: a seemingly benign image of a man leaning in while playing a video game. The post somehow sent GameStop stock to surge more than 100 percent the next day, bringing to mind its stock rally in early 2021 that kicked start the notorious “meme stock” phenomenon. Three weeks later, yesterday (June 3), Gill revealed in another X post that he held a $116 million bet on GameStop, which caused the stock to surge 21 percent. Gill’s GameStop stake was worth $386 million after the dramatic rally.
Gill became synonymous with GameStop stock after he caused the trading frenzy in early 2021, which many saw as an attempt for online revolutionaries to target major hedge funds holding large short positions on the stock. He has received much media attention since then: in February 2021 Gill testified before Congress about his role in the event. Last year, Netflix analyzed him extensively in a documentary called “Dumb Money.”
Who is Keith Gill?
Gill, 37, graduated from Stonehill College in Massachusetts with a degree in accounting and started his career in finance at a New Hampshire-based startup building software to analyze stocks. Most recently, he held a director-level position at MassMutual Life Insurance.
In 2014, Gill started posting stock analysis on Reddit, Twitter (now X) and his YouTube channel, often deeply explaining his fundamental analysis of a stock pick. In September 2019, Gill revealed he had a $53,000 stake in GameStop through a post on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets forum. The post was originally met with many naysayers who felt that a long bullish stance on GameStop was silly, with one of the top comments telling him to “sell now.” Gill responded by explaining why he felt GameStop would rise, based on technical analysis, and released a YouTube video saying he felt investors were undervaluing the stock despite the company’s leadership taking significant strategic steps.
In August 2020, esteemed investor and Chewy founder Ryan Cohen took an activist stake in GameStop, driving the stock up and changing the generally bearish sentiment around the company. This caused many in the r/wallstreetbets community to give Gill credit for being an early bull investor. Many others in the subreddit started paying attention to the company they’d once written off as dying. In January 2021, Cohen joined GameStop’s board as chairman, immediately causing a spike in the stock price.
Seeing Gill’s success with the stock, along with other r/wallstreetbets users posting about how GameStop’s rise was burning hedge funds with massive short positions, countless retail investors piled into the stock. Thus came forth the infamous short squeeze of 2021, which ended with Robinhood and other platforms halting trading of the stock due to high volatility. (GameStop shares had surged 3,000 percent by then.)
Gill’s initial $53,000 investment in GameStop was valued at around $48 million by the end of January 2021, he disclosed on r/wallstreetbets. His unfathomable return on GameStop made him the face of the controversy; lawsuits were filed against him for his role in the stock rally but were dismissed by courts.
Gill has also since left his job at MassMutual, and the company was fined for his social media usage. Many on Reddit coalesced around Gill, feeling that he was being unfairly targeted while other participants, including hedge funds, of the GameStop short squeeze didn’t receive as much attention. During his February 2021 congressional testimony, Gill responded to lawmakers’ questions about his motivations by simply saying, “I like the stock.”