Where Are All The Apes? Carl Icahn Shorted GameStop Stock Around $400 — And He's Still Short

Longtime activist investor Carl Icahn is still shorting GameStop Corp GME and has been since early 2021.

Confirmed short-seller reports would previously send the retail investor-backed stock soaring, but GameStop shares are barely budging Tuesday (Nov. 22), which begs the question: where are the Apes?

What Happened: Icahn confirmed that he initiated a short position in GameStop around the peak of the meme-stock frenzy in early 2021. 

He told CNBC on Tuesday (Nov. 22) that he first shorted the name when it was trading around $400 per share. Since then, the billionaire investor has traded around his position, but he remains short. 

GameStop shares didn't move much on the initial reports, and the stock was only up 2% after Icahn confirmed his short position.

See Also: Carl Icahn Was Buying Twitter Shares Before Musk's Big News, Now He Holds These 2 Dividend Stocks

Why It Matters: Ritholtz Wealth Management's Josh Brown believes much of the retail crowd backing GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC, better known as the Apes, has moved on. 

There was almost no reaction to the news on message boards or on the Subreddit r/wallstreetbets, Brown said on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report."

"A lot of people that were part of that uproar have moved on to other things," he said. 

And according to Brown, the Apes have moved on for good reason. 

"It would be weird to think that history will repeat and all of sudden there's gonna be this tremendous squeeze," Brown said.  

He told CNBC that it isn't clear whether the retail crowd is still in the markets, noting that much of that data is irrelevant or unavailable currently. 

"I think people in general get bored when they're not making money and when they're losing money, they very quickly look for a different activity," Brown said.

Check This Out: Here's How Much $100 Invested In GameStop 20 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today

GME Price Action: GameStop shares are down more than 50% over the last year. 

The stock was up 3.66% at $26.05 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Originally published on Nov. 22, 2022

Photo: Sergei Tokmakov from Pixabay.