Senvest Management LLC, a Canadian investment firm, was one of the few firms to turn a profit off of the GameStop stock fiasco that has raged between hedge fund investors and Reddit users.
Richard Marshaal and Brian Gonick, investors at Senvest, became interested in the stock after attending a conference in January 2020 and noting the presentation from GameStop’s new chief executive as well as the involvement of Ryan Cohen, Chewy Inc. cofounder, according to the Wall Street Journal. The two decided to purchase shares in GameStop and are purported to have cleared a $700 million profit.
The rush on GameStop stock hit a peak after Jan. 26, when Elon Musk tweeted a message recognizing the Reddit users attempting to punish hedge funds’ short on the video game retailer.
Gamestonk!! https://t.co/RZtkDzAewJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021
The tweet allegedly helped the short-squeeze, raising GameStop’s stock an additional 157% when the market had reopened the next morning, according to Business Insider.
“Given what was going on, it was hard to imagine it getting crazier,” Marshaal said, according to WSJ. GameStop has now become Senvest’s most profitable investment.
While Senvest has managed to profit off of GameStop stocks, other hedge fund investors, like Melvin Capital, have taken major financial hits with reported losses of up to $13 billion, according to The Independent.