Social Media Star ‘Roaring Kitty,’ Who Spurred 2021 Meme Stock Craze, Returns After Three-Year Hiatus
Keith Gill, who goes by the social media moniker ‘Roaring Kitty’ posts a photo online for the first time since going dark three years ago.
The financial analyst and social media star Keith Gill — more commonly known as ‘Roaring Kitty’ online — has returned to the internet more than three years after the GameStop ‘meme stock’ event that shocked Wall Street and made hundreds of amateur investors rich. His decision to reemerge now has some wondering what he’ll do next.
Mr. Gill made a name for himself as a financial analyst on popular subreddits on the Reddit social media platform — offering advice to part-time, amateur, and first-time investors. On Sunday, he posted on X a drawing of a man moving from a casual seated position to someone leaning forward to focus more intently on a video game.
The stock prices for GameStop and AMC — two companies which were pillars of the “meme stock” revolution of 2021 — shot up in value following Mr. Gill’s cryptic post. GameStop’s increased by more than 82 percent within hours of the post online, while AMC’s increased by 20 percent.
In 2019, Mr. Gill purchased 50,000 shares and 500 call options of GameStop, which he argued was deeply undervalued.
In January 2021, some of his arguments from more than a year earlier resurfaced online, leading amateur investors to buy GameStop when it was sitting at just a few dollars per share. Within days of these new day traders downloading apps like Robinhood to take part in the spike in GameStop’s worth, the total value of Mr. Gill’s brokerage account reached nearly $50 million.
He was portrayed by actor Paul Dano in a film dramatization of the saga, “Dumb Money,” in 2023. In the film, Mr. Gill and his army of amateur day traders are depicted clashing with Wall Street billionaires caught in a short squeeze of GameStop stock.
At a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee just one month after the “meme stock” craze, Mr. Gill told members of Congress that there was no criminal wrongdoing taking place with these trades. Rather, it was simply an example of when “short sellers, social media, and retail investors collide”. Mr. Gill also said he did not “solicit anyone” to buy the stock for his own personal gain.
