At the conclusion of 2020, the only conversation gamers were having about GameStop was regarding stores closing and the company potentially going out of business. The model of buying and returning games for a price changed the gaming world for consumers in its inception, but with the digital world changing and the convenience of buying a video game at home, GameStop's dominance dwindled. Stocks have the tendency to stick to a certain ebb and flow, but not like what is happening currently. Now, GameStop's presence in the stock market has the attention of President Joe Biden.
A subreddit called Wallstreetbets, which was briefly taken down by its Reddit moderators and is now back online, pumped up the very-low price of the stock and created a storm of buyers that launched the electronics store's value to unforeseen heights. On January 14, GME's stock sat at approximately $38.09 per share. 13 days and a whirlwind of media attention later, GameStop's stock opened the day at $354.83 per share. For those that are not privy to the daily activities of the U.S. Stock Exchange, a rise like GameStop's can be characterized as an outlier. Conversely, it's not uncommon for a stock to spike after a certain chain of events occur, such as a new incentive for investors or action causing the bulk interest. Along with the President's monitoring of the situation, AOC chimed in on the financial phenomena.
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The U.S. Congresswoman took exception to Wall Street's reaction to the GameStop stock situation, saying those on Wall Street "treating our economy as a casino, complain about a message board of posters also treating the market like a casino." This ordeal surely is not going away any time soon, so AOC is going to continue to respond and present her side of the discussion. On Twitter, she announced a Twitch stream that will commence at 8:30 p.m. EST on January 28, and even teased the possibility of guests coming on to talk.
AOC's last stream was during the height of the Among Us craze. She had an audience of 435,000 concurrent viewers playing with several high-profile content creators such as Valkyrae, Toast, Dr. Lupo, and Pokimane. Her intent during that stream was to attract a younger demographic to vote during the 2020 Presidential Election.
As the situation develops with GameStop and AMC, stock-buying apps are getting more involved than one would predict. Robinhood, an app that allows consumers to buy and sell stocks, delisted GameStop and AMC amid "market volatility." In the latest update by Fox Business, two Robinhood users are filing class-action lawsuits after the restriction of those stocks. This is still a fluid situation that will keep developing through the rest of the weekend. GameStop has not commented on its recent stock surge.
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Sources: Fox Business