The GameStop crash was all but inevitable as investors, specifically subscribers to the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, pushed GameStop (Ticker: GME) from $18.84 per share on Dec. 31 to $483 during intraday trading on Jan. 28. That was a 2,389% jump.
The same day GME hit its high, Robinhood announced it would limit purchases of GME and other shares. That ended GME’s upward trajectory. By the close of trading on Jan. 29, GME was at $325 per share. The following week is when the music really stopped playing: By the close of trading on Feb. 3, shares were at $90.
As of Monday open, shares are trading at $72.41.
Among the biggest losers from the bust? GameStop CEO George Sherman, who owns 2,361,670 shares of GameStop, according to Bloomberg. As of Monday’s open, those shares are worth $171.6 million. That’s down 85% from Jan. 28 when his shares were worth a staggering $1.14 billion after GME’s stock hit $483.
While his holdings are still up big-time—back on Dec. 31 his GME holdings were worth $44 million—they’ll likely continue to slip as more GME shareholders who bought high realize they’re never going to recover their losses.
Why didn’t Sherman sell already? Chances are he couldn’t. Publicly traded companies usually restrict CEO stock sales, limit them to preplanned increments, or only allow them after getting board approval. If CEOs could sell (or did so frequently) it would look as if they were signaling their companies were heading for trouble.
Additionally, according to GameStop’s latest proxy filings, Sherman’s shares aren’t fully vested. Some of those shares won’t vest until 2023—and that is assuming he meets certain performance targets. The latest filings do not show any sales from Sherman—and GameStop hasn’t updated his share total since it filed its Form 4 on June, 9 2020.
