(Bloomberg) — Shares of Chewy Inc. rose as much as 29% in premarket trading Monday after Keith Gill — known online as “Roaring Kitty” — disclosed a 6.6% passive stake in the online pet food and products retailer.
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The disclosure to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows Gill owns about 9 million Class A shares, worth about $245 million based on Friday’s closing price. Shares of Chewy and Petco Health and Wellness Co. rose briefly last week after Gill posted a cartoon image of a dog on X.
A Chewy spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News outside regular business hours.
Gill, who shot to fame in 2021 when he led private traders behind GameStop Corp. rallied, returned to social media earlier this year. This was the start of a volatile period for GameStop and other so-called meme stocks.
Both the video game retailer and the pet food company have one thing in common: Ryan Cohen, co-founder of Chewy and the current CEO of GameStop. Shares of GameStop fell as much as 5.7% in premarket trading Monday after Gill’s revelation was released.
Monday’s filing lists June 24 as the date of the event and included a tongue-in-cheek reference to Gill’s Roaring Kitty persona. The document filed with the SEC’s Edgar database of corporate filings includes a section for the reporting person to “indicate if you are a cat.” It is followed by two check boxes, one that says “I am a cat.” and the other – which is marked – with the text “I’m not a cat.”
(Updates with more details from the file.)
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