- Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya was part of the effort to boost GameStop’s share.
- Palihapitiya says he will donate his initial investment and profit to The Barstool Fund.
- The Barstool Fund gives money to small businesses suffering from the pandemic.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya will donate the money he made as a short-selling GameStop share to Barstool’s small business fund, he told CNBC.
Palihapitiya, along with Reddit investors, increased the price of the game store’s stock, which rose 157% on Wednesday after Elon Musk’s Tuesday tweet from “Gamestonk !!”. Palihapitiya announced that it has purchased 50 call options in GameStop. GameStop’s share rose 750% in 2021 when online retail investment group WallStreetBets increased its stake.
Read more: How hedge funds monitor Reddit posts to protect their portfolios after the crowd at Wall Street Bets helped grant Melvin Capital the short positions
Palihapitiya told CNBC that he would donate $ 500,000, his initial GameStop investment and all the profits, to the Barstool Fund. He said he closed out of stock this morning.
The Barstool Fund, founded by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, raises money to support struggling small businesses during the pandemic and ‘save as many jobs as possible’, according to the Fund’s website. To date, it has raised nearly $ 33 million from 205,525 supporters to fund 187 businesses. Recipients include bowling alleys, salons, with the vast majority of restaurants and bars.