After hitting more than $ 347 on January 27, the stock of video game retailer GameStop had fallen back to just over $ 40 on February 19.
New outbreak. Video game retailer GameStop was once again the target of speculative fever on Wednesday February 24 on Wall Street, where its title soared by more than 100%. This boom comes in the wake of the announcement of the resignation of its chief financial officer, Jim Bell.
This decision is not motivated by “a disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the activities, regulations or practices of the company” , assured GameStop. However, according to the website Business Insider (English) , citing sources close to the Jim Bell would have been “sacked” by the shareholder activist Ryan Cohen, recently entered the capital and the Board of the company.
The arrival of Ryan Cohen, co-founder of online pet store Chewy, was one of the triggers for the company’s sharp upward movement on Wall Street in late January.
Blame large investment funds
An army of amateur investors, exchanging their advice and opinions on the forum of the Reddit site, had decided to go massively to this chain of stores, raising its price on the stock market. They thus wanted to prove the big investment funds and the barons of Wall Street wrong, who had on the contrary bet on a collapse of GameStop.
A speculative frenzy had then won the entire market for several sessions and aroused strong reactions from regulators and US elected officials. After a closing peak at over $ 347 on January 27, GameStop stock had fallen back to just over $ 40 on February 19.