Washington — Chewy shares fell about 2% overnight Wednesday after a regulatory filing showed that Roaring Kitty, a meme stock trader, sold his interest in the online pet retailer.
According to a beneficial ownership document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Roaring Kitty, whose legal name is Keith Gill, sold all his Chewy shares, totaling 6.6% of the company.
Chewy Slides After Filing Shows Third-Biggest Shareholder, ‘Roaring Kitty,’ Sold His Stake
Plantation, Florida-based Chewy dropped 1.9% after hours to $26.19 per share.
Gill, an investor at the core of the meme stock craze, bought more than 9 million shares of Chewy in July, making him the company’s third-largest stakeholder.
Gill built a name for himself in 2021 by rallying ordinary investors around GameStop. At the time, the video game shop was fighting to stay in business, and major Wall Street hedge funds and investors were betting against it or shorting the stock. But Gill and those who agreed with him altered GameStop’s direction by purchasing thousands of shares despite practically all acknowledged criteria indicating that the firm was in deep peril.
That triggered what is known as a “short squeeze,” in which large investors who had bet on GameStop were obliged to buy its swiftly increasing stock to offset significant losses.
Gill has expressed confidence in GameStop Chairman and CEO Ryan Cohen’s ability to revamp the company following his success at Chewy. Cohen cofounded Chewy in 2011 and stepped down as CEO in 2018.
SOURCE | AP
