At 4:20 PM on April 16th, 2021, Roaring Kitty revealed he doubled down his GameStop position to amass 200,000 shares of the gaming retailer.

3 hours later, Ryan Cohen tweets a fistbump emoji, likely in a subtle nod to the retail investing icon’s share acquisition.

In February, Ryan Cohen followed Roaring Kitty, albeit briefly, as the face of the frenzy held GameStop through the downwards price action. This confirms that Ryan Cohen keeps tabs on the influential figure.

Roaring Kitty has seemingly responded to Ryan Cohen’s tweet with a video capture of his first live stream, where he says “Thanks for tuning in,” and wholesomely struggles to end the video, as this was all new to him.

Simpler times.

Source: Ryan Cohen on Twitter

Keith “DeepFuckingValue” Gill has posted his much anticipated April 16th 2021 update on Reddit at 4:20PM, fueling 4/20 tinfoil hat conspiracies. Gill claims this will be his final update.

The deep value investor, who is not a cat, first opened his 4/16/21 call options at the $12 strike back in December of 2019 when $GME was trading at ~$6/share.

Prior to today, the Kitty had disclosed ownership of 100,000 shares, when he doubled down in February

After sending out 20 tweets today encompassing movie references and cat gifs hinting towards his move, the retail trading icon executed his 500 remaining 4/16 calls, acquiring an additional 50,000 shares to add to his YOLO portfolio. He has also purchased an additional 50,000 shares, on top of the calls, creating a position of 200,000 shares.

Roaring Kitty’s cost basis has increased to $55.17/share.

Source: DeepFuckingValue on Reddit

On April 15th, GMEdd.com Co-Proprietor Rod Alzmann spoke with Hedgeye Retail’s Jeremy McLean for a Hedgeye TV talk. Jeremy and Brian McGough over at Hedgeye Retail had placed $GME as their best idea long on December 17th, 2020

The retail investor duo shared their thoughts on GMEdd, Ryan Cohen, and GameStop’s path moving forward.

It has not been a great week for George.

GameStop CEO George Sherman has forfeited over 587,000 shares for not meeting targets laid out in April 2019. GameStop’s outgoing Vice President & Chief Merchandising Officer Chris Homeister has also sacrificed over 119,000 shares, from July 2019. D’oh!

Forfeiture of restricted shares originally granted on 7/1/19 based on attainment of 0% of stated performance target.

According to regulatory filing, the boomer duo was forced to forfeit the shares based on an attainment of 0% of stated performance target.

Source: Sherman Filing, Homeister Filing

GameStop Corp. today issued notice of redemption to redeem $216.4 million in principal amount of its 10.0% Senior Notes due 2023 on April 30, 2021. This voluntary early redemption covers the entire amount of the outstanding Notes.  

Notes will be redeemed by the company using cash on hand, at a redemption price of 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest up to, but excluding, the redemption date of April 30, 2021, plus the applicable premium due to holders of the Notes in connection with an early redemption.

In GameStop’s Q4 2020 Form 10-K filed March 17th 2021, these 2023 Senior Notes were cited as a restriction to the company’s ability to take advantage of certain business opportunities, such as:

  • declare dividends, make payments or redeem or repurchase capital stock or make distributions in respect of capital stock;
  • make loans and certain investments;
  • sell assets;
  • engage in mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations.

With long-term debt to be eliminated by the end of this month (April 2021), GameStop will be free to declare dividends, repurchase stock, make loans, sell assets, engage in mergers and acquisitions, and more.  This action enables the company to remain flexible while undergoing the transformation.

Source: GameStop News Release, Form 10-K

At 9:40 PM CT on April 12, 2021, Ryan Cohen shared a photo of him visiting a GameStop store in Culver City, California.

Ryan Cohen had shared a slightly less cropped version of the photo only two minutes prior, before opting to delete it and repost it zoomed in. Was Ryan looking to crop out the “Buy Now, Pay Later” sign, or did he just want to avoid people going crazy analyzing the background?

1. The goods

Ryan Cohen is holding the receipt, and the presumed customer is holding a stack of several gift cards. It’s impossible to discern what’s in the bags, but they look to have decently sized toys or consoles in them judging by the tension on the fabric. The young gamer appears to be holding a foam Minecraft diamond sword, available exclusively at GameStop.


Like psycho girlfriends, GameStop investors immediately began speculating what Ryan was doing in Culver City, California, when he lives in Miami, Florida.

2. The Location

The GameStop store is located at 3855 Overland Ave, Culver City, CA 90232.

Located next to this GameStop is a giant sign stating, “Tuesday Morning,” fueling the 4/20 announcement day tin-foil conspiracies, as it would be next Tuesday.


3. Elon musk’s jet

Culver City, CA is also a 15 minute drive from SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. Elon Musk was in Hawthorne for the past 3 days according to  @ElonJet


Could GameStop be planning a partnership with Tesla as the auto manufacturer begins to move into gaming? This would also explain why Ryan Cohen has followed Elon for several months.

3. esports

100 Thieves is a premium lifestyle brand and gaming organization, built at the intersection of E-sports, entertainment, and apparel.  Owned by Matthew Haag, a former professional gamer with OpTic Gaming,  100 Thieves Headquarters is located at 6050 Jefferson Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016, just six minutes from this GameStop location.


 

Another potential e-Sports partnership, that has been dreamt up in the past, is with Super League Gaming. The company, trading on the NASDAQ under $SLGG, is located just 14 minutes away from this GameStop location.

So what does the tweet mean?

It could be any number of these speculations, or even none at all. Culver City is in the heart of Los Angeles county, and with so many surrounding businesses, Ryan Cohen could have been in town for a number of reasons.

What we can tell though, is that Ryan Cohen looks to have picked up the tab for some shoppers and we’re glad to see him checking out GameStop brick-and-mortar stores for himself. Let us know what theories wrinkled your brain in the comments.

Source: Ryan Cohen on Twitter

GameStop Corp is looking for a new chief executive to replace George Sherman as it pivots from being a brick-and-mortar video game retailer to an e-commerce firm, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

GameStop’s board is working with an executive headhunter on the CEO search, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the matter is confidential.        

 Source: Reuters     


 12 April 2021 6:00PM Editorial Update:  In a batch of new job listings shared by GameStop on LinkedIn, the company seeks to hire an Executive Administrative Assistant.

Listed among the Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Assist in coordinating annual store manager’s conference, as well as all other meetings or events, as requested by the CEO and/or President.

This is incredibly out of the ordinary for a company with a departing Chief Executive Officer.

Why would GameStop be looking for an assistant to the CEO when the current CEO is on their way out? Could the company already have a replacement in mind, potentially from within?

Source: LinkedIn