A protection fund manager who suffered heavy losses as part of the GameStop nutrition frenzy is amid the expansion of his $ 44 million home in Miami Beach.
Gabe Plotkin, who founded Melvin Capital Management in 2014, saw his company lose 53 percent of its value in January – largely due to the GameStop trade.
According to Forbes, Plotkin, who according to Forbes was worth $ 300 million, bet that the shares would fall in value: instead, they skyrocketed when amateur investors raised the price on a Reddit forum.
His company was worth $ 12.5 billion at the beginning of the year, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, and now manages more than $ 8 billion.
Gabe Plotkin saw his company, Melvin Capital, lose 53 percent in the course of January
Plotkin strongly pointed out that the share price of GameStop has fallen: it has skyrocketed
Melvin Capital has left its position in GameStop after having to raise additional funds, Plotkin confirmed to CNBC last week.
Gary Kusin told CNBC he watched with interest how the value of his company skyrocketed
Gary Kusin, who founded GameStop in the 1980s, told CNBC that it was “a bit of an honor” for investors to target GameStop for its short-press effort.
“I’m much more of a spectator than I’m participating,” he added. “I just grabbed popcorn.”
Ben Gary Kusin, Ben’s son, was an active member of the Reddit forum, cheering on the company’s spectacular rally.
He told CNBC that his father and brother were actively watching the drama as GameStop shares shot up to as much as 2,000 percent monthly.
“It collided with worlds when it went off,” Ben Kusin said.
While Plotkin approved of his losses, he was in the midst of serious work on his Miami property.
Plotkin paid $ 44 million for two neighboring homes in Miami in November
The area around Plotkin’s property is home to Cindy Crawford and Josh Kushner
Plotkin paid $ 44 million in November for the two adjoining homes at North Bay Road, 6342 and 6360, Miami, The Real Deal revealed last year.
The Portland, Maine-born financier, plans to destroy the house he bought in 1935 for $ 12 million and replace it with a lighted tennis court.
The Real Deal reported that his lawyer is expected to serve before the Miami Beach Design Review Board next week.
Plans submitted to the city show that Plotkin plans to retain the mansion at 6360 North Bay Road and replace the beachfront home with amenities, a new 1,316-square-foot cabana, a children’s playground and open space.
Plotkin married Yaara Bank-Plotkin in 2006, and the couple split their time between New York City, where they are active in their Upper East Side synagogue, and Florida.
Plotkin has powerful neighbors in the affluent area of Miami.
Among the residents living there are Dan Loeb, a billionaire hedge fund manager, Cindy Crawford and her husband, Rande Gerber, and Karlie Kloss and Josh Kushner.
Plotkin, who graduated from Northwestern University in economics in 2001, worked for several hedge funds before joining Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital in Connecticut in 2006.
He is considered one of Cohen’s star protectors until he started his own firm in New York in 2014.
When Melvin cashed in on Jan. 25, Cohen’s firm Point72 Asset Management and another firm, Citadel LLC, injected $ 2.75 billion into Plotkin’s hedge fund.
According to The New York Times, hedge fund returns at Citadel fell three percent – about a third of which was due to a $ 2 billion investment he made in Melvin about a week ago, according to two people who Citadel ‘s results.