(Reuters) – GameStop (NYSE:) shares rose more than 30% in premarket trading on Friday as investors braced for the return to YouTube of “Growling Kitty,” the stock influencer whose recent social media posts have sparked a rally – a so-called meme stock. .
Shares of the video game retailer jumped 35% to $62.50 on heavy volume.
“Roaring Kitty,” whose real name is Keith Gill, returned to social media platform X in mid-May after a three-year hiatus, sending GameStop shares soaring.
The rally cooled before shares moved higher again on Thursday as the Roaring Kitty YouTube channel revealed an upcoming livestream scheduled for 12 pm ET (1600 GMT) on Friday.
Gill has been a key driver of GameStop and other so-called meme stocks’ 2021 rally, which has been championed by individual investors on Reddit’s Wallstreetbets forum.
Shares of other meme companies including AMC Entertainment (NYSE:), US-listed BlackBerry (NYSE:) and Koss Corp rose 6.1% to 13% on Friday.