Redditor revolt propels game reseller largely loathed by gamers

GameStop gift cards at a GameStop Inc store in Encinitas, California, US. Gamers have a long list of complaints about Grapevine, Texas-based GameStop, from the way they treat employees to their pushy and controversial sales tactics. — Reuters

There’s some irony in the fact that Reddit, an online chat community full of gamers, has propelled GameStop Corp to unbelievable levels. After all, video game fans have loved to hate the struggling retailer for decades.

Over the past week, a collective of individual traders on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets community sent GameStop stock to astronomical heights in an experiment to stick it to hedge funds, which had sold the stock short. At the beginning of this year, GameStop was trading at US$17 (RM69). By Wednesday afternoon, it was over US$340 (RM1,376), valuing the unprofitable company at more than US$25bil (RM101.27bil).