“Roaring Kitty” increases GameStop (GME) bet after exercising options

Photographer: Daniel Acker / Bloomberg

The Reddit user who helped fuel the rising price of GameStop Corp shares this year has doubled in its bet by exercising its call options and buying even more shares.

Keith Gill, who goes by the nicknames “Roaring Kitty” and “DeepF___gValue,” posted a screenshot of his portfolio showing that he has exercised 500 GameStop call options that expire on Friday at a strike price of $ 12, giving him 50,000 more shares. Shares closed Friday at $ 154.69.

In addition, Gill bought another 50,000 shares of the video game retailer, effectively doubling its holdings to 200,000 shares from 100,000 earlier this month. His total investment in GameStop is now worth more than $ 30 million, providing him with a profit of nearly $ 20 million.

Gill’s mother, Elaine Gill, who arrived by phone at her home in Massachusetts confirmed the Reddit screenshots posted by her son.

Gill gained fame this year as one of the most influential voices on Reddit and YouTube amid an effort by retailers to cut short GameStop short sellers. He testified at a congressional hearing in February, where he said he did not ask anyone to buy or sell the shares for profit.

The comments came when he was hit with one lawsuit accusing him of misrepresenting himself as an amateur investor. The lawsuit alleges that he was in fact a licensed stockbroker who manipulated the market for profit, which he denied.

Read: Roaring Kitty is done as a solo trader, GameStop Fan

On Friday, GameStop CEO George Sherman, who is expected to leave, sold about $ 12 million in stock. The company is looking for a new CEO as part of a shock spurred by Chewy.com activist investor and co-founder Ryan Cohen, a person with knowledge of the matter has said.

GameStop shares have risen 721% so far this year, although they are less than half the peak in January.