What’s the actual long GME hypothesis? From WSB, I’ve read 3 things
1. Ryan Cohen joins board. Ok, I like chewy.com but having this one dude on the board is really worth 20x in the company’s value?
2. They plan to sell PC parts. Again, really? And right before a bunch of new consoles are released?
3. People have some vague idea that they might start a Steam competitor. Does GameStop have any expertise, talent, or IP to do this? The only thing they bring to the table is their trademark, and it’s not really a great one.
The 20x value doesn't come from Ryan Cohen, it comes from short-sellers being in too deep. Short-sellers have to buy in order to close their short, and that's guaranteed, and from what I understand, very inelastic demand. That's the real path to profit here: short-sellers having no option but to buy ridiculously overpriced shares in order to settle their shorts.
I haven't redefined anything; your definition of "long means that they're holding shares or call options" is completely in agreement with my statement that "long just means not short." The parent seems to be conflating having a long position and believing in the long-term performance of the company. They're asking about long-term changes in GameStop's business when the person he's asking about this could very well be planning on being long in GME for the duration of this squeeze (or the most extreme parts of it) and bailing in the next 1-4 weeks after it has played out.
That's true, but I think it's a very fair assumption that the parent of my initial comment realizes that the grandparent has a position, considering that they're asking why they took that position.
1. Ryan Cohen joins board. Ok, I like chewy.com but having this one dude on the board is really worth 20x in the company’s value?
2. They plan to sell PC parts. Again, really? And right before a bunch of new consoles are released?
3. People have some vague idea that they might start a Steam competitor. Does GameStop have any expertise, talent, or IP to do this? The only thing they bring to the table is their trademark, and it’s not really a great one.