(Reuters) -GameStop shares rose more than 30% on Thursday after the online stock influencer known as “Roaring Kitty” posted on YouTube that he would host a livestream on Friday.
Thursday’s rise was the latest in a period of volatile trading in the struggling video game retailer’s stock that kicked off last month after the influencer, whose real name is Keith Gill, returned to X.com after a three-year hiatus.
The “Roaring Kitty” channel on YouTube on Thursday showed an upcoming livestream schedule for Friday at noon ET.
On Monday, GameStop shares closed more than 20% higher after Gill’s Reddit profile returned with a post showing a $116 million bet on the stock after a three-year hiatus.
Gill was a key player in the 2021 rally in GameStop and other so-called meme stocks that was fueled by individual investors on Reddit’s Wallstreetbets forum.
His recent return to social media fueled new rallies in GameStop, as well as other stocks popular with individual traders on social media.
AMC Entertainment rose 11% on Thursday, while headphone maker Koss rose 8%.
Gill developed a cult following of traders who fueled a huge GameStop rally, inflaming hedge funds that had bet against the mall retailer struggling with declining sales as video game fans turned to online purchases.
GameStop last traded at $41.27 per share on Thursday and is up more than 136% in 2024. In 2021, the stock reached an intra-day peak of nearly $121 before falling nearly 90% over the next five sessions.
Gill did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the upcoming livestream.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the 2021 meme stock craze and ultimately concluded that marketplace systems were working well.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
