REDDIT’s at it again. Fresh from boosting the share price of game retailer GameStop, the WallStreetBets community has gone wild, “adopting” 3,500 wild gorillas in just six days.
The “subreddit”, as the group is known, put to test the theory that if enough Reddit users bought GameStop shares, they could drive up the price. Their targets were the hedge funds betting against the firm – and the ploy worked.
Bolstered by this success, which surprised financial experts around the world, the online community has pitched in to help Africa’s great apes. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International charity for the protection of endangered mountain gorillas is reported to have received more than £252,000 in donations.
Fund president Tara Stoinski thanked the Reddit community for the action. “They’ve truly made a difference for our world,” she said in a video posted on the subreddit.
The charity tweeted: “In a typical weekend, we might get 20 new adoptions. This weekend, the numbers astonished us.
“It’s safe to say that the investor community on Reddit is not traditionally who we think of as our supporter base. But they definitely surprised and overwhelmed us over the weekend.”
