Barstool's Dave Portnoy, Mets' Steve Cohen spar over GameStop drama
Cohen’s hedge fund Point72 invested $750 million into Melvin Capital on Tuesday alongside Citadel’s $2 billion bailout
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy directed his rage over the GameStop and Robinhood trading drama at New York Mets billionaire owner Steve Cohen on Twitter Thursday over his hedge fund’s role in bailing out Melvin Capital, one of the first near implosions, tied to the trading frenzy in select stocks.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GME | GAMESTOP CORP. | 22.33 | -0.08 | -0.36% |
Cohen’s hedge fund Point72 Asset Management invested $750 million into Melvin Capital on Tuesday alongside Citadel’s reported $2 billion bailout, that firm is run by another billionaire Ken Griffin.
Cohen took to Twitter firing back saying “Rough crowd on Twitter tonight. Hey stock jockeys keep bringing it.”
Portnoy, following Robinhood’s new trading restrictions on Thursday, quoted Cohen’s message questioning his connection to the day’s “madness.”
In another Tweet slamming the trading app, Portnoy again called out Cohen for his hedge fund’s involvement, this time demanding “Prison or bust.”
But Cohen responded this time saying: “Hey Dave, What’s your beef with me. I’m just trying to make a living just like you. Happy to take this offline.”
GAMESTOCK PRICE FRENZY: WHAT TO KNOW
Portnoy fired back, accusing Cohen of being involved with “today’s criminal events.”
“I don’t do offline. That’s where shady s--- happens. You bailed out Melvin cause he’s you’re boy along with Citadel. I think you had strong hand in todays criminal events to save hedge funds at the cost of ordinary people. Do you unequivocally deny that?”
Cohen plainly denied the accusation. “If I want to make an additional investment with somebody that is my right if it’s in the best interest of my investors.”
“Chill out.”
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The back-and-forth continued but Cohen attempted to defuse the situation, telling Portnoy that he’s “a trader just like you are” and that it’s “reasonable” that brokers should make a statement in regards to the new trading restrictions.
Cohen continued to offer more explanations to which Portnoy replied: "At least you are speaking and trying to answer. That is appreciated."
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCHW | THE CHARLES SCHWAB CORP. | 70.96 | +0.02 | +0.03% |
Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, which is owned by Charles Schwab, along with other online apps restricted trading on Thursday, respectively, following an unexpected surge in trading volume of shares of not only GameStop but AMC Entertainment, Bed Bath & Beyond, BlackBerry and others.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMC | AMC ENTERTAINMENT | 4.35 | -0.16 | -3.55% |
| BB | BLACKBERRY LTD. | 2.25 | -0.02 | -0.88% |
| BBBY | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
ROBINHOOD RESTRICTS TRADING IN SELECT STOCKS
The company said in a Thursday that it was "restricting transactions for certain securities to position closing only, including $AAL, $AMC, $BB, $BBY, $CTRM, $EXPR, $GME, $KOSS, $NAKD, $NOK, $SNDL, $TR, and $TRVG" and "raised margin requirements for certain securities."
Fox Business’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.