Dumb Money: Unpicking the GameStop saga

Shares in GameStop, the video game store, experienced a dramatic rise in early in 2021. The stock had captured the imagination of many individual investors who heard about it on social media platforms such as TikTok and Reddit.

Some investors made a lot of money, while some hedge funds, who had bet against the stock, lost billions. Eventually, though, GameStop shares crashed back to earth and many investors lost the lot.

The story has been dramatised by Hollywood in ‘Dumb Money’, currently screening in cinemas.

Vivienne Nunis sits down with the film’s director Craig Gillespie and financial journalist Matt Levine to investigate what the GameStop saga teaches us about the power of social media when it comes to influencing the movements of the stock market.

(Picture: Paul Dano as Keith Gill in 'Dumb Money'. Credit: Sony Pictures)

Presented and produced by Vivienne Nunis