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Chris Bryant

Richard Branson Is Hit With the Meme-Stock Crowd

Don’t be surprised if Richard Branson’s space-tourism venture takes advantage of its meme-stock status to raise capital.

Richard Branson should know better than most corporate leaders how to charm the Reddit crowd

Richard Branson should know better than most corporate leaders how to charm the Reddit crowd

Photographer: Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

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The rules of finance have been turned on their head in the meme-stock era. Now when a company’s prospects deteriorate and short sellers bet a stock will fall further, retail investors often ignore the financial fundamentals and pile in anyway. Even modestly encouraging news can then suffice to squeeze hedge funds out of their bearish wagers and for the shares to power even higher.  

GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. led the retail buying wave, but right now there’s no better example of this new speculative paradigm than space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.