What happened
Shares of GameStop (GME 1.07%) are falling 5.6% at 11:40 a.m. ET on Thursday on no news specific to the video game company, but its Chairman Ryan Cohen filed to sell his entire stake in fellow meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), which caused that stock to crater nearly 30%.
So what
Cohen's RC Ventures had taken a near-12% position in the home goods retailer back in March, and a Monday filing indicated that there were also 1.6 million out-of-the-money stock options included with strike prices ranging from $60 per share to $80 per share.
While Bed Bath & Beyond's stock surged on Cohen's initial investment, which saw him also earn three seats on the company's board of directors, the stock had been sliding over the summer as the market's more risky ventures sold off.
Meme stocks rallied again over the past month, with Bed Bath & Beyond's shares quadrupling in value, AMC Entertainment doubling, and GameStop rising nearly 40% higher.
The revelation of Cohen's option position in the home goods retailer sent shares soaring even further as the strike prices portended the possibility of them soaring even more. But yesterday's filing indicating his desire to exit his position has the stock plunging. In addition to GameStop falling, AMC is also down 5% today.
Now what
Such moves don't seem to have phased all that much the retail stock traders who have largely propped up GameStop shares since the original meme stock trading frenzy that gripped the market last year.
Shares that were trading under $5 a share in January 2021 today go for over $38 a stub, a sevenfold increase in value. While investors who bought in at the peak of over $80 a share are still nursing a significant loss, many others are still profitable on their GameStop investments and continue to believe there's a lot more upside in the video game retailer's stock.
