If John Brooks were still alive, he would be the perfect writer to add an engaging narrative around the recent GameStop battle in his classic book “Business Adventures” . The title could be “Armchair investor beats up Wall Street cartel”, or simply “Robinhood Reddit”. I like the latter better for its metaphor in Robinhood as the Legendary Heroic Outlaw.
My family is not into games, and is not a fan of online games. We are hardly a customer of GameStop, and are no help to GameStop declining business. Years ago, my daughter wanted a Nintendo as a birthday gift. We got her one, and we went to a nearby GameStop shop a handful of times to get games and some accessories. My memory of the shop was pretty placid and unimpressive. There may be one or two times with a handful of customers and we waited for a minute or so to finish our transaction. The layout and the ambience of the shop were equally unimpressive. Together with the fact that I am just a parent of a lukewarm gamer, the store was pretty forgettable. My latest interaction with GameStop was an online pre-order of Roger Federer Pop Funko last year. The experience was slightly memorable just because the Amazon pre order of my husband on the same product got cancelled by Amazon. When I noticed the nearby GameStop store closing, I felt a tinge sorry similar to receiving a notice from a coworker, who I hardly talk to, that he is leaving the company and leaving the city.
I may have the most vivid memory of GameStop for what happened last week. Amidst the pandemic, and the everyday inequity, the Robinhood Reddit short squeeze is almost a feel good Cinderella story. We all know Cinderella ends at midnight. Still, who would have thought a band of armchair investors gossiping on some social platform could beat up badly the Wall Street cartel on some unfortunate companies? Even more intriguing, the online platform, named so fittingly as Rohinhóod, has played a big role. Maybe, like my daughter, I could put up a few hundred dollars as an entry fee to watch how the squeeze would unfold.
This week, could Robinhood bring the walking dead “BlockBuster” stock back alive?
The real world is getting into traumatic times of pandemic, the unthinkable Washington DC Capital insurrection , and now the Robinhood Reddit tale of GameStop. It feels more and more like we are all part of an epic movie in the making.
oliviatamccue 
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