A college student made $110 million by selling Bed Bath & Beyond shares. He was able to take advantage of the ailing home-wares retailer becoming a meme stock and making a lot of money.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on July 21, Jake Freeman revealed that he owned almost 5 million Bed Bath & Beyond shares. He sold his entire position on August 16.
Bed Bath & Beyond stock more than tripled in price from under $6 to over $20 during that period as retail traders piled in hoping it would double in value. The Financial Times reported that he spent about $25 million on his stake, or less than $5.50 a share, and sold it for more than 120 million dollars.
"I didn't think such a vicious rally would go upwards," he said. He said that he was surprised that it went up so quickly.
At the age of 16, he co-authored a paper titled "Irreducible Risks of Hedging a Bond With a Default swap", which was published at the University of Southern California. He raised the money for his Bed Bath & Beyond bet from friends and family, and has invested alongside his uncle for many years.
His sale happened at the right time. On August 17th, Bed Bath & Beyond stock fell as much as 19% after Ryan Cohen, the retailer's largest shareholder, disclosed that he was going to dump his entire 12% position in the company.
After Cohen confirmed he still held bullish call options, Bed Bath & Beyond shares spiked. Cohen started the meme-stock boom by investing in the video game retailer and pushing for changes.
A request for comment from Insider was not responded to by the man.
Bed Bath & Beyond went bananas as retail investors returned with a vengeance.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
