18:48 PST 2/7/2021
by
Ryan Parker
“Powerful things happen when you talk about things you really care about,” reads the message in part.
If viewers blinked, they missed it.
After the Super Bowl LV halftime program on Sunday, a five-second ad appeared. Impossible to read the entire message unless it was interrupted, it was easy to deduce that the site came from the social media site Reddit, which has been in the news lately due to the GameStop and AMC stock drama.
“Wow, that actually worked,” the message begins. “One thing we’ve learned from our communities over the past week is that underdogs can achieve almost anything if they come up with a common idea,” it reads, clearly referring to the manipulation in the stock market.
“Powerful things happen when you rally about things you really care about. And there’s a place for it. It’s called Reddit,” the message concluded.
More than a week ago, Reddit stock traders crowded around GameStop, raising it to almost an astonishing $ 500 a share. In December, the stock traded at about $ 10 a share. The Reddit traders did this to save hedge funds that sold the stock short, meaning they bet it would fall in price shares.
The result is that the stock goes through the roof and turns at least one of the Reddit investors into a multimillionaire, while drawing attention to the community of mostly day traders. The actions also made nationwide headlines and even worked in the White House press room.
Reddit shares have since fallen and the stock closed at $ 63 a share on Friday.