GameStop has been the talk of the financial world the last few days, and the consequences of the wild stock market activity have stretched far beyond the stock market. The tech world, social media, and the financial lives of millions of individuals have been impacted, and it’s pushed at least one prominent sports figure off of Twitter.
On Friday, Mets owner and hedge fund manager Steve Cohen released a statement saying he would take a “break” from Twitter after receiving threats as a result of what’s become a battle between hedge fund managers shorting retail stocks and the internet-based day traders who have banded together to make stocks like GameStop and AMC soar in recent days.
As ESPN detailed, Cohen claims his family has been threatened by people online for getting involved with Melvin Capitol, one of the hedge funds which vocally battled with people on the Reddit forum that has been instrumental in the stock craze.
“I’ve really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter which was unfortunately overtaken this week by misinformation unrelated to the Mets that led to our family getting personal threats,” Cohen said in a statement Saturday after deactivating his account Friday night. “So I’m going to take a break for now. We have other ways to listen to your suggestions and remain committed to doing that. I love our team, this community, and our fans, who are the best in baseball. Bottom line is that this week’s events in no way affect our resources and drive to put a championship team on the field.”
The reason Cohen has fallen in the crosshairs of angry denizens of the internet is not because of Mets-related goings on. Rather, Cohen’s Point72 has essentially rescued Melvin Capital from its own oblivion as a result of shorting GameStop stock. Point72 was part of a gigantic influx of more than $2 billion in money to keep Melvin afloat amid massive losses due to the stock price rising, as the latter was betting heavily on GameStop stock to further collapse.
That information, along with some fairly inflammatory comments about the day traders who have banded together, caused some problems online for Cohen.
Before closing his Twitter account, Cohen — the richest owner in baseball, worth more than $14.5 billion — responded to the controversy Tuesday by tweeting, “Rough crowd on Twitter tonight. Hey stock jockeys, keep bringing it.”
Among the critics of Cohen, WFAN morning host and former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason said he would stop going to Mets games “until I find out exactly what’s going on here” regarding Cohen’s involvement with the GameStop situation.
Between his GM flaming out with a horrifying sexual harassment allegation and becoming one of the noted bad guys attracting attention from ordinary day traders, it’s quite stunning how quickly the honeymoon has ended for Cohen’s Mets ownership.