- Gary Kusin, a co-founder of GameStop, told CNBC that he was watching the company’s shareholdings.
- Cousin’s son Ben said he had been following the Reddit forum for a long time, which was attributed to GameStop’s protest.
- Elder Kusin told CNBC that it was a “little honor” for investors to target GameStop.
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A co-founder of GameStop and his family seem to be following the exploding share price closely.
Ben Kusin, whose father, Gary, was a co-founder of GameStop, was an active member of the Reddit forum who encouraged and fueled the spectacular rally. The younger cousin told Ari Levy, CNBC, that his father and brother were actively watching the drama when GameStop shares soared to 2,000% in January.
“It was worlds that collided when it went down,” he said.
Encouraged by members of the popular Reddit forum r / wallstreetbets, many people have thrown in investments in GameStop to partly burn larger investors betting on the stock, such as Citron Research short seller Andrew Left. The protest, described as a populist movement, resulted in billions in losses for GameStop short sellers.
Gary Kusin, who was put together about what became GameStop in the 1980s, told CNBC it was a “bit of an honor” that investors targeted the company for its attempt to push short.
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“I’m much more of a spectator than I’m participating,” he added. “I just grabbed some popcorn.”
Elder Kusin joins other striking spectators at the GameStop rally. Billionaires Elon Musk and Chamath Palihapitiya applauded the small investors for hampering the short pressure. Progressive legislators have called for stronger regulation of the stock market to prevent market manipulation.
The rally was a return for GameStop, the largest game retailer in the US, after years of slow sales. The company is threatened because games are increasingly being downloaded rather than bought in stores, and closed 462 stores in 2020.
A huge pandemic-induced increase in demand for video games, a huge investment by tough co-founder Ryan Cohen, and the release of the PlayStation 5 caused a boom for the video game store ahead of the dramatic frenzy.
Some at GameStop had a hard time dealing with the sudden boom. GameStop employees told Insider’s Reed Alexander that they posed investment questions and strange customer interactions. Employees said they had not received any guidance from the GameStop corporate leadership on how to deal with the influx of questions.