Point72 founder Steve Cohen quits Twitter after his family receives threats

Steve Cohen, founder of the Point72 hedge fund and owner of the New York Mets, has disabled his Twitter account after his family received threats this week amid the GameStop commercial frenzy.

“I really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter who were sadly overwhelmed this week by unrelated misinformation that led to our family receiving personal threats,” Cohen said in a commentary. press release Saturday.

“So I’m going to take a break for now. We have other ways to listen to your suggestions and stay committed to doing that,” he said.

Cohen’s hedge fund, which manages nearly $ 19 billion in assets, has lost nearly 15% this year after small investors surged shares of video game retailer GameStop, a source familiar with the matter said. at the New York Times.

Point72’s losses are mainly due to the company’s investment in hedge fund Melvin Capital, which bet against GameStop and had to receive nearly $ 3 billion in emergency cash from two outside investors, including Point72.

Cohen, who bought the Mets for around $ 2.5 billion in November, was asked on Twitter about the impact of Melvin’s losses on the baseball team.

Cohen also engaged in a back-and-forth on Thursday with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy on Twitter after Portnoy accused Cohen of being involved in controversial GameStop trade restrictions on apps like Robinhood.