April 10, 2021 at 09:00 AM EDT
(MarketWatch) â Melvin Capital is giving the Reddit crowd something to cheer about on a Friday.
The hedge fund, which has come to exemplify the worst of Wall Street for a band of individual investors, has rung up a 49% first-quarter loss, according to a report from Bloomberg News on Friday.
Melvin Capital has been at the center of a closely watched fracas between the professional investors and amateur traders congregating on social-media forums like RedditâÂÂs r/WallStreetBets.
The hedge fund, run by Gabe Plotkin, a former investment manager for hedge-fund titan Steve Cohen, has borne the brunt of losses from a surge in heavily shorted âÂÂmemeâ stocks like videogame retailer GameStop GME, -6.99% and movie chain AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC, -3.78%, and it seems as if MelvinâÂÂs short-squeeze wounds arenâÂÂt mending, perhaps to the chagrin of Plotkin and the delight of the army o
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
BOSTON (Reuters) -Melvin Capital, the hedge fund at the center of the GameStop trading frenzy, lost 49% on its investments during the first three months of 2021, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The fund, founded by Gabe Plotkin, lost 7% in March, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A Melvin Capital spokesman declined to comment.
Melvin had established itself as a strong performer posting annualized returns of 30% between 2014 and 2020
But Plotkin had bet the retailer GameStop’s stock price would tumble and then faced off with retail traders who used online trading apps and exchanged information on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum to push the stock price significantly higher in the early weeks of January.
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Gabe Plotkin s Melvin Capital lost 7% in March to close out a dire first quarter.
The firm was down almost 49% in the quarter, sources told Insider.
In January, the firm was targeted by retail traders who piled into its GameStop short position.
In March, Gabe Plotkin s Melvin Capital took a step back from digging itself out of its GameStop hole.
The $8 billion equity hedge fund lost 7% last month, finishing the first quarter down almost 49%, sources told Insider. The average hedge fund, Hedge Fund Research found, made 1% last month and earned just over 6% over the first quarter. Melvin declined to comment.
GameStop investor Melvin Capital lost 49% on its investments in first quarter: source foxbusiness.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from foxbusiness.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.