The South Korean hedge fund that made a risky bet on GameStop Corp. almost a year ago. settled less strong on US share of video game retailer after a seemingly endless march wrong foot many short sellers.
Kim Doo-yong, CEO of Must Asset Management, said the stock’s high volatility and more than ten times increase since its the last interview with Bloomberg in March 2020 spurred his less rosy view.
The Seoul hedge fund, with 602 billion won ($ 546 million) in assets under management, has a 4.7% stake in GameStop, according to Bloomberg data based on a filing. This made the Korean fund one of the largest investors in the company Grapevine in Texas.
Kim declined to comment on the fund’s current stake in the U.S. listed stock, a favorite of retail investors that became increasingly influential in markets during the pandemic. GameStop shares rose sharply after short-term and day trading after Ryan Cohen, the activist investor and online pet trader Chewy Inc., co-founder, joined his board on January 11th.
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“We became less positive and more neutral on GameStop,” Kim said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. “This stock will be very volatile and unpredictable in the short term.”
Kim told Bloomberg in March last year that GameStop is “the only place” where potential customers can try out the games of companies in person. He still believes in the company.
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“We are still very positive about the new management at GameStop,” Kim said. “We believe Ryan Cohen and his team can replicate the success he has achieved on Chewy.com.”
Kim said he recently made a bet on another U.S. company. The fund listed its shares in the US stock market Kaleyra Inc. and now has a 5.2% stake in the software company.