@GameStop $GME share price was $11 in November 2020, today it's at $135.

It is experiencing one of the biggest short squeezes in history.

Curious how we got here?

My atomic essay today tells the story /

1/ Curious why you're seeing GameStop pop up all over social media. Let me try to shed some light on the situation, it's a fun story.

2/ The past few weeks have been a roller coaster for GameStop and its stock. It all started with Ryan Cohen, the previous founder of Chewy. Cohen was acquiring shares of GameStop and believed in its brand. In Nov 2020, he had 9.98% of ownership with average cost of $5.98.

3/ He privately reached out to GameStop's board for some time, urging them to focus more on e-commerce and profitable retail locations. Cohen believed GameStop could have the same success as Chewy.

4/ His attempts went nowhere. He then sent out a public letter to the board, asking to provide stockholders with a roadmap for the company's future. It was a spicy letter that made it clear changes are needed or Cohen is taking action. https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/RC_Ventures_Letter_to_GameStop.pdf

5/ Cohen publishes his letter in Nov 2020. By now, tons of hedge funds and investors are shorting GameStop. They have been for years, and with good reason. The company revenues are going down consistently. GameStop had become one of the most shorted stocks ever.

6/ Some others had caught on to the short squeeze. One SeekingAlpha contributor, Jonathan Prather, had a three part series on the squeeze published in Aug 2020. Folks were aware of a potential squeeze. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4372597-gamestop-short-squeeze-part-iii-atop-caldera

7/ The catalyst that started driving it though, was Cohen. Cohen continued pressing GameStop and was buying more and more shares through his company, RC Ventures.

8/ Finally RC Ventures and GameStop strike a deal in Jan 11th, 2021 and the share price rallied another 7%. The next day it doubled, and the day after it rose 60%. The squeeze had begun.

9/ Another catalyst to the squeeze was the Reddit retail investor hype squad, r/wallstreetbets. They caught wind of the squeeze when Cohen published his letter. Posts started coming up talking about Cohen, touting his Chewy success.

10/ More and more folks started piling on, buying shares and call options. The Reddit community even posted up a survey to calculate how many shares everyone had.

11/ Turned out WSB had a ~5.8% stake in GameStop (who knows how accurate the survey results were though). In either case, WSB played their part supporting Cohen and the rebirth of GameStop.

12/ Turned out WSB had a ~5.8% stake in GameStop (who knows how accurate the survey results were though). In either case, WSB played their part supporting Cohen and the rebirth of GameStop.

13/ The GameStop roller coaster still hasn't stopped, with the share price peaking at $140 the other day. The squeeze continues and now with billionaires on Twitter ( @cameron & @chamath) starting to hop on as well.

14/ Who knows how far this will go, it may become the biggest short squeeze in history.