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Defiant Redditors Buy Times Square Billboard As GameStop Stock Saga Rages

defiant redditors buy times square billboard as gamestop stock saga rages

Small investors on Reddit are not yet ready to give up on their GameStop investments. To show they are for real, they spread their message on billboards across the country.

A Billboard In The Heart Of New York

Digital billboard maker Matei Psatta created an ad and had it run for an hour on Friday in Times Square. The 29-year old declared it only cost him $18.

The message read "$GME GO BRRR," where GME refers to the GameStop stock symbol at NY Stock Exchange. "Brrr" is the sound of a money-making machine from a popular Internet meme.

defiant redditors buy times square billboard as gamestop stock saga rages
defiant redditors buy times square billboard as gamestop stock saga rages

About the billboard, Psatta said:

"Did it purely to support the movement and make some people smile. I'm considering running another but want to see how the sentiment is on Monday."

A Look At The GameStop Saga

The market frenzy started because of the Reddit page WallStreetBets, which acted against hedge fund short-sellers. The latter planned on profiting from GameStop's failure but were in for a bad surprise.

When Redditors bought stock from the electronic retailer, prices surged from about $40 to $483 for one share. Because of this, several Wall Street institutions were hit hard - for example; Melvin Capital needed a $2 billion bailout.

The whole situation left Reddit users overjoyed. One of them wrote in the forum:

"For the first time, it is almost as if God gave a reason for all us to band together to battle corruption and stand for what is clearly right. I have never experienced unity like this before. Regardless of where you belong in the political spectrum, everyone is unified in what needs to be done."

Robinhood In The Storm

Following the frenzy, the investing app Robinhood restricted the trading of GameStop stock. Because of this, people started a class-action lawsuit against the company.

Politicians from both sides of the spectrum also reacted negatively to Robinhood's decisions. Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted:

"This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp's decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I'd support a hearing if necessary."

Soon after, Republican Senator Ted Cruz replied: "Fully agree."

defiant redditors buy times square billboard as gamestop stock saga rages
defiant redditors buy times square billboard as gamestop stock saga rages

One More Billboard In Oklahoma

The Time Square billboard, however, was not the only one to pop up in the country. One more appeared along a highway in conservative Oklahoma. The sign read:

"We're not leaving! GME"

Someone shared pictures of it, which finally reached the WallStreetBets Reddit page where it all began. Tess Jenkins, who took the photo, said:

"We drove by it and took the picture. I think it's great. I think more power to the people. I am excited. I am very happy this is happening. This last year has been kind of crazy. I've enjoyed it. My husband has been dancing."

Weeks after the saga exploded, it still seems clear that Redditors and small investors are not giving up. At this point, it is a matter of principle for them, and we might hear about them again soon.