GameStop

In January 2021, a Texas video game retailer with empty malls became briefly more valuable than Ford. The share price hit $483 on January 28. Market cap touched $33.7 billion. Reddit was triumphant. Hedge funds were on fire. Inside GameStop's grapevine headquarters, leadership was doing something almost no company has done in this position. They were preparing to sell stock into it. Short interest had reached 140% of public float. Melvin Capital lost 53% in a month. The conventional reading was that retail had broken Wall Street. The interesting reading sat on a different desk. GameStop quietly registered and at the market equity offering. The mechanism that lets a public company drip fresh shares into trading at whatever price the tape will pay.