The man at the center of the pandemic meme stock craze, Keith Gill, also known as “Roaring Kitty,” made a triumphant return to the social platform X after three years, sending prices of some of those stocks soaring at the opening bell on Monday.
Gill posted an image on Sunday of a man sitting forward in his chair, a meme used by gamers when things are getting serious. He followed that tweet with a YouTube video summarizing the bull case for GameStop, the struggling video game retailer that he helped revive in 2021.
At Monday’s opening bell, shares of GameStop surged nearly 50%, marking its biggest intraday jump since the meme craze in 2021. Other meme stocks like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. also saw significant gains.
Gill became a hero to small retail investors in 2021 after his posts on the Reddit subcategory Wallstreetbets sparked a battle against large hedge funds that were betting against GameStop. The small investors ultimately won, driving GameStop’s shares up over 1,000% and other meme stocks as well.
Shares of GameStop, AMC, Koss Co., BlackBerry, and Bed, Bath & Beyond all surged on Monday, with GameStop jumping nearly 70% and AMC leaping 23%.
Gill, who had largely disappeared from messaging boards after the meme craze, made a dramatic comeback that reignited interest in these meme stocks. The story of Roaring Kitty and the meme stock craze was even turned into a movie called “Dumb Money” last year.