Servers for GameStop annual shareholder meeting crash due to overwhelming interest

According to a YouTube stream from an unaffiliated user purporting to reproduce the feed, the annual meeting was brought to order at 11:48 a.m. ET and was “immediately adjourned … due to technical difficulties that have prevented stockholders from accessing the meeting.” GameStop said it would provide an update “as soon as possible” as to when the event would be rescheduled, according to that feed.

GameStop couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

When reached by phone, a customer service rep for Computer Share told CNBC that it was seeing a “mass amount” of issues from people trying to access the meeting.

The rep said Computer Share’s servers appeared to be unable to handle the amount of traffic the meeting had received and weren’t accustomed to the volume of accounts. They added that Computer Share’s tech team was working to solve the issue and advised interested parties to attempt to log in “every 5 to 10 minutes.” 

The debacle comes amid a new meme stock craze that surged when Keith Gill — known as Roaring Kitty online — resumed posting on his social accounts after going dark for more than three years. Gill gained notoriety in the online trading realm for his big bets on the stock, spurring a frenzy among retail traders.

GameStop last traded up 6% on Thursday in another volatile day. The stock gained as much as 10.7% earlier in the session.

GameStop announced Tuesday that it raised more than $2 billion in a recent at-the-market equity sale as the video game company took advantage of the revived meme rally. GameStop said it intends to use the money for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions and investments.

Traders have been closely monitoring Roaring Kitty’s positioning, as his active selling could knock the price of the stock.

In late afternoon trading Wednesday, a sell-off in GameStop shares intensified suddenly just as the trading volume spiked in the call options that Roaring Kitty owns. Call options give the buyer the right to buy a stock at a specified price within a specific period. They increase in value if the stock rises above the so-called strike price.

GameStop calls with a $20 strike price and expiration on June 21 traded a whopping 93,266 contracts Wednesday, more than nine times its 30-day average volume of 10,233 contracts.

The price of these contracts dropped more than 40% during the session, while the stock plunged 16.5%.

Roaring Kitty owned 120,000 contracts of those calls, according to a screenshot he shared Monday evening.

It is unclear if it was indeed Roaring Kitty behind the large volume, but options traders said he could be involved given he is such a large holder of those contracts.

Open interest on those calls, the total number of contracts for an asset that have not been settled, has declined to 111,818 contracts as of Thursday morning, already below Roaring Kitty’s original 120,000.

More than 42,000 such contracts have changed hands as of midday Thursday.