GameStop surges as ‘Roaring Kitty’ schedules YouTube return

(Reuters) – GameStop (NYSE:)’s shares surged more than 30% in premarket trading on Friday as investors geared up for the YouTube return of “Roaring Kitty”, the stock influencer whose recent social media posts have sparked a rally in so-called meme stocks.

The video game retailer’s shares jumped 35% to $62.50 in heavy volume.

“Roaring Kitty”, whose real name is Keith Gill, returned to social media platform X in mid-May, after a three-year hiatus, sparking a rally in GameStop’s shares.

The rally cooled before the stock shot up again on Thursday when the “Roaring Kitty” channel on YouTube showed an upcoming livestream scheduled for 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT) on Friday.

Gill was a key driver of the rally in 2021 in GameStop and other so-called meme stocks that was fueled by individual investors on Reddit’s wallstreetbets forum.

The shares of other meme stocks — including AMC Entertainment (NYSE:), U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry (NYSE:), Koss Corp — rose between 6.1% and 13% on Friday.