GAMESTOP PLUNGE ERASES US$11 BILLION AS PLATFORMS CURB TRADES; RETAIL STAFF FIND DAY TRADERS TONE-DEAF.

A small Canadian investment firm is riding Gamestop Corp.’s reddit-fuelled stock moves, adding us$123 million to the wealth of the father-and-son duo who control it. Montreal-based Senvest Capital Inc., which does public and private investments, is up 64 per cent this year amid the Gamestop trading frenzy. Senvest Capital controls fund manager Senvest Management LLC, which is Gamestop’s seventh-largest shareholder, according to regulatory filings and data compiled by Bloomberg. Senvest Capital rose 1 per cent to $284.50 in Toronto. Senvest Management disclosed in October that it owned 3.6-million shares of Gamestop, which has soared in a rally ignited by day traders using reddit and other online forums to encourage others to buy the stock. richard Mashaal founded New york-based Senvest Management in 1997. He and his father, Victor Mashaal, collectively own almost 55 per cent of Senvest Capital.