Traders work where GameStop is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, United States, June 12, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
GameStops The annual shareholder meeting was disrupted by computer problems on Thursday as servers crashed due to the overwhelming interest in the stream, a customer service representative for the company hosting the stream told CNBC.
The meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, was hosted on ComputerShare, but when people tried to access the event, many received error messages that the page failed to load, according to posts on the social media site X and based on CNBC’s own attempts to access the event.
According to a YouTube stream from an independent user that purports to reproduce the feed, the annual meeting was called at 11:48 a.m. ET and “immediately adjourned… due to technical difficulties that prevented shareholders from accessing the meeting.” According to this feed, GameStop said it would provide an update on when the event would be rescheduled “as soon as possible.”
GameStop could not immediately be reached for comment.
When reached by phone, a ComputerShare customer service representative told CNBC that there was a “mass” of problems from people trying to access the meeting.
The representative said that ComputerShare’s servers appeared unable to handle the amount of traffic the meeting received and that they were not used to the volume of accounts. They added that ComputerShare’s technical team was working to resolve the issue and advised interested parties to try logging in “every 5 to 10 minutes.”
The debacle came amid a new meme stock boom that grew as Keith Gill – known online as “Roaring Kitty” – started posting again on his social media accounts after being inactive for more than three years. Gill rose to fame in online trading for his big bets on the stock, causing excitement among retail traders.
GameStop rose 14.4% on Thursday in another volatile session.
GameStop said Tuesday it raised more than $2 billion in a recent market share sale as the video game company benefited from the revived meme rally. GameStop said it intends to use the money for general corporate purposes, which could include acquisitions and investments.
Traders have been closely watching Roaring Kitty’s positioning as its active selling could push the stock price higher.
A selloff in GameStop shares suddenly intensified in late afternoon trading on Wednesday as trading volume on call options owned by Roaring Kitty skyrocketed. Call options give the buyer the right to purchase a stock at a specific price within a specific period of time. They gain value when the stock rises above the so-called exercise price.
GameStop calls with a $20 strike price and an expiration date of June 21 traded a whopping 93,266 contracts on Wednesday, more than nine times the 30-day average volume of 10,233 contracts.
The price of these contracts fell more than 40% during the session, while the stock fell 16.5%.
According to a screenshot he posted Monday evening, Roaring Kitty owned 120,000 contracts of these calls.
It’s unclear whether Roaring Kitty is actually behind the large volume, but options traders said he could be involved since he is such a large holder of these contracts.
Open interest on these calls, the total number of contracts for an asset that have not settled, has fallen to 111,818 contracts as of Thursday morning, already below Roaring Kitty’s original 120,000.
More than 47,000 such contracts changed hands on Thursday.
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2024-06-13 21:01:01
www.cnbc.com
