By Pranav Kashyap
(Reuters) – Andrew Left, the founder of Citron Research, is again betting against retail investors’ favorite GameStop, which is back in the limelight after super-bull “Roaring Kitty” Keith Gill resurfaced online following a three-year hiatus.
Citron was forced to close its short position in GameStop at a loss in 2021, after retail traders ganged up against heavily shorted stocks on online forums to drive rallies, which cost bearish investors billions of dollars.
“It’s fun to go back into the fire. The market dynamics have changed and I’m not as exposed as I was,” Left told Reuters on his current position in GameStop.
“The first time, three-and-a-half-years ago, (GameStop) was a cultural phenomenon, and that’s played out by now. The company has deteriorating financials and is a good short.”
Left did not disclose the size of his GameStop position but said it was “significantly lower” from last time. Bloomberg News on Monday reported Left’s latest short position on the videogame retailer.
GameStop did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for a comment.
After getting squeezed by the GameStop surge in 2021, Left — who spent two decades building his brand as one of the world’s best-known short sellers — had said he would turn his back on publicly detailing companies’ shortcomings.
Since then, Citron has published reports that are critical of companies and those that outline why the stock is worth buying.
“I’ve still been shorting stocks, I just haven’t been as vocal,” Left said.
“Short selling is a dying business. Before you could find a piece of information on the internet that maybe nobody else had, but now retail investors have become good gumshoes.”
Short sellers borrow stock and sell it in the market hoping that they can buy them back at a lower price and pocket the difference.
GameStop shares dropped 5.9% on Tuesday, a day after a surge as Gill, a key figure in the 2021 meme stocks frenzy, revealed a bet on the company in a Reddit post.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
