Unity Software shares are riding high Thursday since Keith Gill, better known as the viral meme stock trader Roaring Kitty, cryptically posted a GIF that many traders believe references the video game technology company.
The GIF depicts comedian Dave Chappelle impersonating musician Rick James in a 2004 episode of “Chappelle’s Show.” The episode “The Love Contract & True Hollywood Stories: Rick James,” makes light of Hollywood tales involving James—one of which includes a reference to his 1983 song, “Unity.”
Traders connected the dots—whether or not they were actually intended by Gill—and shares of Unity Software, the firm behind the popular Unity software engine that powers countless games, gained more than 8% during pre-market trading.
Gains extended once markets opened, and Unity—which trades on the NYSE as under the U ticker—is now priced at $24.38, a nearly 9% gain.
It wasn’t just the traditional markets that saw a boost from Roaring Kitty’s most recent post on X (formerly known as Twitter), which has now garnered more than 2.5 million views. The post also appears to have impacted the meme coin market, sending a Unity-inspired meme coin on the Solana blockchain up more than 200% in the last 24 hours.
Gill’s impact on financial markets is not new. He rose to fame in 2021 as a key figure in the GameStop short squeeze saga, and has gained influence over markets with his ambiguous and cryptic posts.
In early December, GameStop Shares and a GME meme coin both jumped after he posted an altered version of an iconic Time magazine cover on X.
His posts have helped move prices in the opposite direction as well, like in September when he posted a modified image from “Toy Story” that some traders believed indicated that he was ditching shares of Chewy, a pet food and products retailer. Shares of Chewy fell nearly 4% within a minute before eventually recovering to around its previous price.
Gill’s role during the GameStop stock frenzy earned attention from regulators and he was called to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services in 2021. He later was played by actor Paul Dano in the film “Dumb Money,” which replayed the saga on the big screen.
The most recent update posted from his Reddit account—DeepFuckingValue—indicates that he holds 9 million shares of GameStop (GME) as of late June, a figure worth more than $280 million at today’s prices. GME rose to a six-month peak of $33 per share last week on December 26.
GameStop shares are down nearly 1% on the day at a current price of $31.10 per share. However, the GameStop-inspired GME meme coin on Solana has jumped by nearly 13% in the last 24 hours—though the token is still down 87% from its peak price seen last June.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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