BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor Steve Cohen, seen by small investors as an enemy in this week’s GameStop stock drama, deleted his Twitter account because of what he said were threats against him and his family, a spokesman said Saturday.
“I’m going to rest for now,” Cohen said on Twitter late Friday, citing “personal threats.” ”His account did not appear again on Saturday, and a spokesman for Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management confirmed it was closed.
The small investors, connected on social media, moved to take over the institutional short sellers of GameStop and other shares, taking a short spike that these stock prices inflated. Details of Cohen’s tenancies were not disclosed, so it was unclear if he was a short seller.
However, Cohen’s Point72 and Citadel LLC provided a capital infusion to Melvin Capital, an asset that had a large short-term position in GameStop, allowing it to close that position with a huge loss and survive.
Cohen, who previously used Twitter largely to engage with New York Mets football fans after buying a majority stake last year, was among fund managers who received threats while the GameStop saga was expanding.
On Thursday, Cohen entered a heated discussion with blogger Dave Portnoy, founder of the pop sports and culture blog Barstool Sports. Cohen, valued at about $ 14 billion, fell, “Hey Dave, What meat do you have with me. I’m just trying to make a living just like you. ”
Point72 lost between 10% and 15% in value from the beginning of the year to the middle of the week, people familiar with the numbers said.
Reciting with Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Edited by Cynthia Osterman