Steve Cohen, founder of hedge fund Point72 and owner of New York Mets, closed his Twitter account after his family received threats this week amidst GameStop trading debacle.
“I’ve really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter which was unfortunately overtaken this week by misinformation unrelated to the Mets that led to our family getting personal threats,” Cohen said in a statement on Saturday.
“So I’m going to take a break for now. We have other ways to listen to your suggestions and always be committed to doing so, ”he said.
Point72 Losses
Cohen’s hedge fund, which owns and has about $ 19 billion in assets under management, lost about 15% this year after small investors caused GameStop game retailer shares to rise, a source familiar with the matter told The New York Times.
The loss to Point72 was largely due to the company’s investment in hedge fund Melvin Capital, which was betting on the downside of GameStop and had to secure about $ 3 billion in emergency funding from two foreign investors, one of which was Point72.
Cohen, who bought the Mets for about $ 2.5 billion in November, faced questions on Twitter about how Melvin’s loss would affect the baseball team.
Cohen on Thursday also engaged in a back-and-forth with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy on Twitter after Portnoy accused Cohen of involvement with controversial trading restrictions in GameStop on apps like Robinhood.
Synopsis
- Cohen’s fund Point72 lost nearly 15% this year after small investors caused shares of videogame retailer GameStop to surge, according to a report.
- The losses at Point72 are mainly due to the company’s investment in hedge fund Melvin Capital, which bet against GameStop.
- Point72 was one of two hedge funds to provide emergency cash to Melvin.
