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Memestock ringleader Keith Gill, known online as Roaring Kitty, made his first on-camera appearance in over three years in a livestream midday on Friday<\/a>, sending GameStop<\/a> stock down over 40% from this morning\u2019s peak and forcing exchanges to halt trading 8 times in a single hour for volatility<\/a> as traders sent shares up and down over the course of the nearly hour-long stream.<\/p>\n Over the course of the rambling, 50-minute call<\/a>, Gill expounded on his faith in GameStop\u2019s corporate strategy and its new CEO, Ryan Cohen, and confirmed that screenshots posted to his Reddit account earlier this week displaying a brokerage account with over 5 million GameStop call options<\/a> were indeed his.<\/p>\n \u201c[GameStop] becomes a bet on the veterans, you know\u2014in particular, of course, [CEO] Ryan Cohen,\u201d Gill said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve seen enough from him to think he\u2019s got a good head on his shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n Gill was instrumental in Gamestop\u2019s initial surge in January 2021, where his Reddit posts and livestreams helped generate enough interest from memestock traders to push the ailing video-game retailer\u2019s stock price up well over 1,000%<\/a>. After disappearing for three years, Gill\u2019s Twitter<\/a> account began posting cryptic images and movie stills earlier this month, igniting another rally that more than doubled Gamestop\u2019s share price<\/a> at its peak.<\/p>\n When Gill announced that he would be appearing on a live stream this morning, GameStop\u2019s share price jumped nearly 30%\u2014making Gill a billionaire on paper based on the value of his call options<\/a>. However, the stock retreated by 25% by the time the stream began, and fell a further 12% during the stream, erasing his prior gains.<\/p>\n Gill commented on reports that brokerage platform E*Trade was considering banning him from the platform<\/a>, using his browser\u2019s HTML function to remove the E*Trade logo from his account\u2019s dashboard and\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen those headlines, E*Trade,\u201d Gill said. \u201cI\u2019m checking in every day. I\u2019ll log in. I\u2019m like, my position is still there. Are they still there? Let me check it. They\u2019re still there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to keep up with the trends, issues, and executives shaping corporate finance. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n