GameStop jumps 9% after the original meme stock cashes in again with $1 billion share sale

GameStop shares climbed after the videogame retailer said it sold five million additional shares, raising $1.13 billion in capital to accelerate growth.

The original Reddit favorite meme stock jumped 9% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the company announced the completion of its at-the-market equity offering program that was initially disclosed on June 9. GameStop said it will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes as well as for investing in growth initiatives and maintaining a strong balance sheet.

This is the second stock sale that GameStop has conducted since the company became a star on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum where retail traders aimed to push stock price higher and squeeze out short-selling hedge funds. GameStop sold 3.5 million additional shares in April and raised $551 million.

Investors have been encouraged by the moves and looked past the dilution of their stakes as GameStop took advantage of its monstrous rally this year to speed up its e-commerce transformation. The stock has advanced over 960% in 2021.

White Square Capital, a London-based hedge fund, is closing its main fund and returning capital after suffering losses from betting against GameStop, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, GameStop named former Amazon executive Matt Furlong as its new CEO.  The company also hired several other former Amazon executives, including Jenna Owens, its new chief operating officer; Matt Francis, its first chief technology officer; and Elliott Wilke, its chief growth officer.

For its fiscal first quarter, GameStop reported narrower-than-expected losses per share and revenue that topped Wall Street estimates. As of May 1, GameStop said, it had paid off its long-term debt and no longer had any borrowings under its asset-based revolving credit facility.