The founder of WallStreetBets, a popular forum on the Reddit platform that sent thousands of traders on a GameStop-like hypervolatile stock betting frenzy in 2020 and 2021, is suing Reddit for breach of contract, according to the Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
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Jaime Rogozinski, creator in 2012 of the WallStreetBets forum, at the heart of the craze for the “meme” stocks saga that shook the financial world three years ago, accuses Reddit of having chased him out of his role as host of the forum.
Mr. Rogozinski, who has filed a complaint with a federal court in California, also accuses Reddit of having deprived him of his rights related to the creation of the name of the forum, indicates the Wall Street Journal.
Reddit had removed Mr. Rogozinski from his role of moderating the forum in April 2020 accusing him of trying to monetize the community of participants, the newspaper indicates. The host had notably promoted a book he had written on the investment practices of millennials, the newspaper still says.
Questioned by the Wall Street Journal, Reddit estimated by the voice of a spokesperson that this lawsuit was “futile” and constituted “a new obvious attempt” by the plaintiff to “enrich himself”.
WallStreetBets currently has 13.6 million members and remains one of Reddit’s top 50 forums, but its influence on the stock market has declined sharply.
At the end of 2020 and in 2021, Wall Street had been rocked by the flows of purchases from thousands of individuals, students and retirees, trading on WallStreetBets and betting against hedge funds on highly volatile stocks such as those of the video game distributor GameStop or the AMC cinemas.