By Feuer
Legendary investor Michael Burry, whose bullish stance on GameStop helped spark the so-called meme stock frenzy earlier this year, said on Twitter that he was served a subpoena by the Securities and Exchange Commission about the video game retailer’s stock.
“So, who got an SEC subpoena over $GME? Actually, I know who, they’re on my subpoena,” Burry wrote in a since-deleted tweet that also included a photo of the letter from the SEC dated Sept. 21.
“With all that’s going on in the world…,” he added.
Burry, the founder of Scion Asset Management whose best known for making a killing betting against the housing market ahead of the 2008 collapse, began loading up on shares of GameStop in 2018.
The hedge fund manager grew his holdings in the retailer to more than $17 million at the end of the third quarter of 2020 before closing it out in the fourth quarter, missing out on the retail-driven rally earlier this year.
But his bullish 2019 comments to Barron’s in which he said new consoles from Microsoft and Sony would “extend GameStop’s life significantly” helped spark a rally in the stock that may have helped investor sentiment during the 2021 rally.
In January, when amateur investors drove GameStop stock up in a move that squeezed hedge fund investors who were betting against the company, Burry called the trading “unnatural, insane, and dangerous,” adding that there should be “legal and regulatory repercussions.”
It’s not clear what the SEC’s interest is in Scion Asset Management, and representatives for both the firm and the agency did not return request for comment.
GameStop disclosed in May that it had received a voluntary request for information tied to the trading of its stock and the shares of other companies from the SEC.
And earlier this month, SEC chair Gary Gensler said the agency is close to releasing a highly anticipated report analyzing the trading frenzy that pushed share of GameStop, AMC and other companies higher.
He’s also expected to publish recommendations on what – if any – changes should be made to the US trading system in the wake of unprecedented market action.
Shares of GameStop, meanwhile, rose three percent in midday trading Monday and were last seen trading hands at more than $190 per share, far higher than the price targets from the few remaining Wall Street analysts still covering the stock.
