Biggest players in short-selling are getting a pass

A 3d printed Robinhood and Reddit logos are seen near one dollar banknotes in front of displayed GameStop logo - Reuters file pic

NEW YORK: It’s in the air again, on Reddit, in Congress, in the C-suite: Hedge funds that get rich off short-selling are the enemy. The odd thing is, the biggest players in the game are getting a pass.

Those would be the asset managers, pension plans and sovereign wealth funds that provide the vast majority of securities used to take bearish positions.

Without the likes of BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Kuwait Investment Authority filling such an elemental role, investors such as Gabe Plotkin, whose Melvin Capital Management became a piñata for day traders in the GameStop Corp. saga, wouldn’t have shares to sell short.