Billionaire investor Steve Cohen has deleted his Twitter account because of what he said were threats against him and his family, said his spokeswoman. He is seen by small investors as an enemy in the GameStop stock saga that happened earlier last week.
“I’m going to take a break for now,” Cohen said on Twitter late on Friday, citing “personal threats.”
A spokeswoman for Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management confirmed the closure of his Twitter account.
The development comes in the wake of small investors, connected on social media, mobilizing to take on institutional short sellers of GameStop and other shares, sparking a short squeeze that sent the prices of these shares surging.
Since the details of Cohen’s holdings are not disclosed, it is not clear whether he was a short seller. However Cohen’s Point72 and Citadel LLC infused capital at Melvin Capital, a fund that held a large short position in GameStop, enabling it to close out that position with a large loss and survive.
Cohen was among the fund managers who received threats as the GameStop saga unfolded.
On Thursday, Cohen got into a heated debate with Dave Portnoy, a blogger, who founded the sports and pop culture blog Barstool Sports. Cohen, who is worth around $14 billion, tweeted, “Hey Dave, What’s your beef with me. I’m just trying to make a living just like you.”
According to sources familiar with the numbers, Cohen’s Point7 lost between 10% and 15% in value since the start of this year to the middle of the week.
