The Wall Street Bets saga, an incredibly ridiculous story about a group of amateur Reddit investors who beat career Wall Street hedge funds at their own game, is to be made into a movie.
According to a report by online news site Deadline on Jan. 31, Metro Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) won the rights to produce the film in a bidding war involving major Hollywood movie houses.
The movie is to be based on a book proposed by author Ben Mezrich. Mezrich’s previous work, “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook, a Tale Of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal,” was adapted into the motion picture “The Social Network.”
The title to his planned latest book offering is called “The Antisocial Network,” said the report, quoting sources familiar with the development. The book is expected to go out to publishers later this February, it said.
However, it is not yet clear what shape or structure the movie will take. MGM’s Michael DeLuca will produce the film. DeLuca also produced the Academy-Award winning The Social Network. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss will executive produce via their Winklevoss Pictures production company.
The Wall Street Bets group noticed that major hedge funds on Wall Street had been placing short bets against companies they considered to be dying. The funds particularly targeted Gamestop, the world’s largest video game retailer, continually shorting the company’s shares.
But the Redditors saw an opportunity to make profit and collectively bet the other way, buying shares and stock options. This resulted in the value of the Gamestop shares soaring by more than 2,600% in January.
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Hedge funds that had shorted the stock incurred losses running into several billions of dollars. One fund, Melvin Capital, reportedly lost up to $7 billion to the “short squeeze” in January, forcing it to restructure its investment portfolio to ensure a faster escape in future “squeezes.”
The Reddit traders also extended the pump to a few other stocks considered to be dying, including AMC (which climbed over 900% in January), as well as Nokia and Blackberry. This surge of activity resulted in a major controversy when the trading app Robinhood began restricting trade on certain stocks.
What do you think about the Wall Street Bets saga being turned into a film? Let us know in the comments section below.
