Citron Research founder and short seller Andrew Left returned to Benzinga for a live interview Thursday to discuss video game store and retail trader favorite GameStop Corporation (NYSE:GME), which again saw heavy trading volatility this week.
What Happened: An interview Left did with Benzinga in 2021 was featured in several documentaries centered on the GameStop short squeeze storyline.
While Left played a key role in the battle of short sellers against GameStop in 2021, he was not featured in a book called "The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees," written by Ben Mezrich.
"I didn't speak to him when he wrote the book," Left said of Mezrich. "The whole story was told poorly. It wasn't fair."
Left said he disagrees with the portrayal of short sellers in Mezrich's book.
"The story still goes down as if the short sellers were the bad guys."
Mezrich's book was turned into a major motion picture from Sony Group Corp (NYSE:SONY), "Dumb Money" with Paul Dano playing Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty.
Left said he's skeptical that Roaring Kitty is the reason for the trading activity in GameStop this week and told Benzinga that Roaring Kitty wasn't the reason GameStop shares rose in 2021.
The Citron Research founder said the book and movie had to attribute the move to someone.
"The rest is movie folklore."
Why It's Important: The movie grossed $13.9 million domestically and $20.7 million worldwide, according to data from BoxOfficeMojo. The film also featured actors including Pete Davidson, Vincent D'Onofrio, America Ferrera, Seth Rogen, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan and Nick Offerman.
The film was later released on streaming platform Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX). It had a surge in popularity in its initial release and may have contributed to a meme cryptocurrency based on GameStop trading higher.
GME Price Action: GameStop shares are down 29% to $29.84 on Thursday versus a 52-week trading range of $9.95 to $64.83. New 52-week highs were set on both Monday and Tuesday.
Andrew Left speaks with Benzinga on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
Citron Research創始人兼賣空者安德魯·萊夫特週四返回本辛加接受現場採訪，討論電子遊戲商店和零售交易商最喜歡的GameStop公司（紐約證券交易所代碼：GME），該公司本週再次出現嚴重的交易波動。
發生了什麼：Left 在 2021 年對本辛加的採訪出現在幾部紀錄片中，這些紀錄片以 GameStop 的短篇故事情節爲中心。
儘管左翼在2021年賣空者與GameStop的鬥爭中發揮了關鍵作用，但本·梅茲裏希撰寫的一本名爲《反社會網絡：GameStop的空頭擠壓和使華爾街屈服的雜亂無章的業餘交易者群體》中卻沒有出現在他身上。
左派談到梅茲裏希時說：“他寫這本書的時候我沒有和他說話。”“整個故事講得不好。這不公平。”
左派說，他不同意梅茲裏希書中對賣空者的描繪。
“故事仍然像賣空者是壞人一樣往下走。”
梅茲裏希的書被改編成了索尼集團公司（紐約證券交易所代碼：SONY）的一部大型電影《Dumb Money》，保羅·達諾扮演基思·吉爾，又名 Roaring Kitty。
Left表示，他對Roaring Kitty是本週GameStop交易活動的原因持懷疑態度，並告訴本辛加，Roaring Kitty並不是GameStop股價在2021年上漲的原因。
Citron Research的創始人說，這本書和電影必須將這一舉動歸因於某人。
“剩下的就是電影民間傳說。”
爲什麼重要：根據BoxOfficeMojo的數據，這部電影在國內的票房收入爲1,390萬美元，全球票房收入爲2,070萬美元。影片還邀請了包括皮特·戴維森、文森特·多諾弗里奧、美國·費雷拉、塞思·羅根、安東尼·拉莫斯、塞巴斯蒂安·斯坦和尼克·奧弗曼在內的演員。
這部電影后來在流媒體平台Netflix公司（納斯達克股票代碼：NFLX）上映。它在首次發佈時人氣激增，並可能促成了基於GameStop交易價格上漲的模因加密貨幣。
GME價格走勢：週四，GameStop股價下跌29％，至29.84美元，而52周的交易區間爲9.95美元至64.83美元。週一和週二均創下了52周新高。
安德魯·萊夫特於2024年5月16日星期四與本辛加交談。
