Owner deletes his Twitter account
Cohen says his family has received threats on the social media outlet
For almost three months since he bought the New York Mets, Steve Cohen engaged in surprisingly lively banter with the team’s fans on Twitter, entertaining their outlandish trade suggestions and showcasing a sense of humor and genuine interest in their thoughts that was rare for a billionaire team owner.
That all came to a crashing halt Friday night, when Cohen deactivated his Twitter account and released a statement through the Mets in which he said his family had received unspecified threats on the social media service. The move came a day after Cohen’s hedge fund — and Cohen himself, though his Twitter account — had been swept into the venomous rich-vs.poor battle over the struggling video game retailer Gamestop.
“I’ve really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter which was unfortunately overtaken this week by misinformation unrelated to the Mets that led to our family getting personal threats,” Cohen said. “So I’m
going to take a break for now.”
The misinformation and personal threats appeared to be related not to Cohen’s ownership of the Mets or his online banter about the team, but to his connections to the frothy trading in Gamestop stock.
This past week, investors, whipped into a frenzy on places like Reddit’s Wallstreetbets forum, drove up the stock price of Gamestop.
The surge of small investors quickly sent Gamestop’s stock price from less than $20 a share to about $325 a share as of Friday. For hedge funds that had taken positions against Gamestop, expecting that the value of the shares would fall (in what is known as shorting the stock), the sudden rise cost them billions.
One of the biggest losers may have been Cohen.
Cohen’s hedge fund, Point72, had invested nearly $1 billion in Melvin Capital, another hedge fund led by a former Point72 employee. Melvin Capital had shorted Gamestop stock, and so as its value rose Melvin Capital sustained losses so large that it required a $2.75 billion rescue from other investors, including another $750 million from Point72.
On Thursday, Cohen got into a Twitter back-and-forth with Dave Portnoy, the acerbic founder of the website Barstool Sports. Barstool fans have a long history of racist and misogynistic abuse and are notorious for going after critics who draw Portnoy’s ire, as Cohen did. In response, the Mets’ owner shut down his account.
Note: Left-hander Aaron Loup finalized a $3 million, one-year contract with the Mets on Saturday. Loup can earn $250,000 in performance bonuses for games pitched: $50,000 each of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60. The 33-yearold was 3-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 25 innings over 24 games for AL champion Tampa Bay last season, allowing 17 hits while striking out 22 and walking four. Once considered a lefty specialist, he held right-handed batters to a .192 average with three home runs in 58 plate appearances and left-handed batters to a .212 average with no home runs in 38 plate appearances.