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- Gary Kusin, the co-founder of GameStop, told CNBC he’s been closely monitoring the Reddit-fueled frenzy this month.
- Kusin’s son, Ben Kusin, had even been an active member on the Reddit forum cheering on GameStop’s rally.
- Gary Kusin, who founded the company in the 1980s, told CNBC it was a “a little bit of an honor” that investors targeted GameStop.
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GameStop’s founder and his family are closely following the firm’s exploding share price this month.
Ben Kusin, whose father Gary co-founded GameStop, had been an active member on the Reddit forum cheering on the company’s spectacular rally. Kusin told CNBC’s Ari Levy his father and brother have been actively watching the drama unfold as GameStop shares skyrocketed as much as 2000% month-to-date.
“It was worlds colliding when this went down,” Ben Kusin told CNBC.
Encouraged by members on the popular Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets, scores of individuals poured investments into GameStop to burn the stock’s short-sellers, like Citron Research’s Andrew Left. The rally, which has turned into a populist movement, resulted in billions in losses for GameStop short sellers.
Gary Kusin, who founded the company in the 1980s, told CNBC it was “a little bit of an honor” that investors targeted GameStop for its short-squeeze attempt.
"I'm much more a spectator than I am participant," Gary Kusin added. "I just grabbed some popcorn."
GameStop's co-founder joins other high-profile spectators of the GameStop rally. Billionaires Elon Musk and Chamath Palihapitiya have cheered on retail investors driving the short-squeeze. Progressive lawmakers have called for stronger regulation of the stock market to prevent market manipulation.
The rally represented a comeback for GameStop, the largest gaming retailer in the US, after years of slow sales. The company closed 462 stores in 2020.
A pandemic-induced surge in demand for video games, a major investment by Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen, and the release of the PlayStation 5 all sparked a revival for the video game store before this month's frenzy.
Some at GameStop have had a hard time dealing with the sudden surge. GameStop employees told Insider's Reed Alexander they've been fielding investing questions and bizarre interactions from customers. Employees said they haven't received guidance from GameStop corporate leadership on how to handle the influx of questions.