You may have heard—or read incessantly—wacky things happened in the stock market, particularly when it comes to GameStop, a publicly-traded video game retail seller.
In case you're new to it all—or hopelessly confused—the Associated Presspublished a nice crash course. Simply put, a bunch of people realized several billionaire hedge fund investors have purchased A LOT of GameStop stock over the last few years as the company has continuously struggled to be profitable.
Those investors were in a "short" position. They bought shares of the low-value stock and sold those, but with the requirement to buy them back, hoping to cash in if the stock did become valuable.
It's like betting on who one thinks will lose.
But recently, a large group of people on Reddit realized if they all banded together and bought the stock, the wealthy hedge-fund investors would be forced to buy the stock back, which would increase the stock's value, cause more people to buy the stock, and then force the investors to buy even more stock back.
That's exactly what happened.
GameStop's stock value has raised almost 1000% in just a few days. Redditors had initiated one of the biggest troll feedback loops we've ever seen and made a bunch of money doing it.
And although many have championed that ploy as a justified middle finger to Wall Street insiders of the 1%, some people are still critical of the Redditors behind the big explosion.
Scott Galloway, a Marketing Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business recently stereotyped all the Reddit stock market enthusiasts as nothing more than a cadre of sexless nerds.
What happened here (i.e., GMS)?
--It's about sex...
--Specifically, young men not having (enough) sex
--Sex leads to relationships, obligations and guardrails (don't get in fights, we need you. Don't gamble your paycheck, we need to save for a house)
— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) January 27, 2021
Arm young men, in a basement, not at work, not having sex, not forming connection, with an RH account, a phone and stimulus and you have the perfect storm of volatility as they wage war against established players while squeezing the dopa bag,,,harder and harder
— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) January 27, 2021
But Twitter was not impressed with that argument at all.
They lashed back at Galloway, criticizing not only his take on the Wall Street situation itself, but also gender.
And even logic in general.
What they're doing is good, actually pic.twitter.com/UWacjHG3ZW
— oɔɔoɹsʞooɹq (@brooksrocco) January 27, 2021
It's also about economic injustice, feelings of powerlessness and a pent-up desire to stick it to The Man.
— Dodes (@racheld) January 27, 2021
This brilliant theory explains why no man in a relationship has ever gotten in a fight or gambled their paycheck away. I always wondered about that.
— babsbeaty (@babsbeaty) January 28, 2021
I can't believe we're still trotting out the tired, misogynist garbage that it's the responsibility of women to put out to keep men in check and also teach them how to be mature adults. TALK. TO. THE. PARENTS. OR. THE. BOYS. THEMSELVES. and leave women out of it.
— Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) January 28, 2021
This is quite the projection. I hope someone has sex with you soon.
— roxane gay (@rgay) January 28, 2021
As similar dynamics play out with other typically low value stocks, only time will tell what other wild takes on the issue will surface.