Gabriel Plotkin

Gabriel Plotkin worked as a star portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors before founding Melvin Capital Management in 2014. He built the fund to approximately $12 billion in assets through a mix of long and short equity strategies with a focus on consumer discretionary. In January 2021, coordinated buying by retail investors on Reddit's WallStreetBets drove GameStop's stock up 1,700% in weeks, devastating Melvin's short positions and resulting in a loss of over 53% for the month — approximately $6 billion. Despite a bailout from Citadel and Point72, Melvin never recovered and closed in 2022. The Melvin Capital episode became one of the most studied events in modern financial history — illustrating how social media-coordinated retail trading can overwhelm institutional short positions and upend assumptions about market microstructure and short-selling risk management.