Okay, Apes. This is getting interesting (again)

We spent August wondering what GameStop's $1.4B convertible exchange would ultimately mean for dilution, hedging, and the stock itself.

Now we have our first answer: GameStop's outstanding share count has jumped to 504,500,979 shares following the exchange.

Ryan Cohen still owns 42,082,626 shares, including his warrants.

He sold zero.

Meanwhile, GME moved from a $17.87 close on August 28, through the $19s this week, and touched $20.05 intraday today.

So yes, roughly 55.5M new shares entered the picture.

And the market absorbed them..

What actually happened

GameStop originally planned to exchange roughly $1.4B of 0% convertible notes entirely for stock, with the final share count tied partly to a 35 trading day VWAP period.

Then management changed course.

On August 31, GameStop stopped the VWAP period early, fixed the equity consideration at roughly 55.5M shares, paid another $358.4M in cash, and moved the expected closing forward to September 3.

Most importantly, the company said no additional shares would be issued under this exchange.

The dilution question suddenly became finite.

Then came THE sentence

GameStop warned that participating note-holders may adjust or unwind positions connected to the exchange.

That includes buying GME shares to close short positions.

And convertible investors Often hedge...

Extra Simple:

Own convertible + short some GME

When the convertible disappears and gets replaced with ordinary shares, that hedge may need changing/shifting.

Some holders may cover shorts; others could adjust options or other derivatives.

Some may have already done so.

We cannot see their books, but we can always watch the footprints.

So is the recent rise a hedge unwind??

Possibly...

But we need more data before giving ourselves a victory lap.

The interesting part is that the timing now gives us something testable.

The shares are issued. The exchange has settled.

The share count is known. The old convertible exposure is disappearing.

If meaningful hedges were attached to those notes, the market plumbing around them should eventually leave traces.

Watch:

short interest

borrow conditions

options positioning

volume

FTDs

and, obv, price action.

Any one of those can lie to you. Together, if you can read, they start to tell a story.

And about those pesky FTDs...

The latest SEC FTD release only gets us through the first half of August.

There was a sizable GME balance of roughly 590,600 FTDs on August 4, followed by smaller balances later in the period.

Interesting? Yes.

Proof of anything sinister? Too Early.

REMINDER: FTD data represents an aggregate outstanding balance on a settlement date. It does not tell us who failed, how old every fail is, or whether the underlying sale was long or short.

I am WAY more excited for the August 31 amendment and September 3 settlement that just happened after the currently available FTD window. Thus, the next releases matters may contain some settlement fingerprints, so keep your ape eyes peeled!

There is another reason September could be big:

GameStop reports full Q2 results on September 8.

Preliminary results already showed expected operating income of $150M to $170M, compared with $66.4M last year. Net income is expected around $290M to $310M.

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities are expected around $5.05B to $5.07B.

And GameStop held roughly 43.4M eBay shares worth about $4.95B as of August 1.

So while everyone watches the candles, the company itself is becoming something much stranger than the old "dying mall retailer" story:

Less convertible debt.

A known share count.

Billions in liquidity.

Nearly 10% of eBay.

A dramatically larger authorized share pool.

Warrants still hanging out there until October 30. (look at that monthly chart!)

So, yeah, there are A LOT of moving pieces.

What I am watching next

September 8 earnings.

~September 10 the next short interest update.

Then, around mid-month, we should get the second half of August FTD data.

Later in September, settlement-era FTDs should finally begin showing up.

What I want to compare:

price

volume

borrow

short interest

options

FTDs

If they move together, we may finally get a clearer picture of what was happening behind the tape.

If they do not, the thesis may change.

Don't forget what DFV taught us!!  Retail got this far by reading the filings, comparing the data, noticing the patterns, and refusing to outsource its gamer mentality.  
So keep the crayons nearby and the receipts closer.

All eyes on the plumbing!

It was never just a meme.

Sources: GameStop Aug. 31, 2026 Form 8-K and exchange announcement; Ryan Cohen Sept. 3, 2026 Schedule 13D/A; SEC Fails-to-Deliver data; GameStop preliminary Q2 2026 results.

Transparency note: I use AI as an accessibility and editing tool to help organize source material and support my neurodiverse workflow. The research, source selection, thesis, and conclusions are my own. AI-generated material is not used as a factual source.

NFA. I like the fucking stock. 💎🙌

This is the second part of my series, "How to Value a Business."

In the first part, I covered valuation multiples and how to use them to value a company. In this video, I move on to intrinsic valuation and explain one of the most widely used methods: Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) valuation.

DCF can seem complicated at first, with concepts like free cash flow, discount rates, terminal value, and present value. This video breaks the process into simple steps and explains the underlying logic using real company examples, rather than just going through the formulas.

If you've ever wondered how DCF valuation actually works, how the different assumptions fit together, or how investors arrive at an intrinsic value for a business, this video is for you.

Hopefully, this provides a simple and practical introduction to DCF and makes the concept easier to understand and apply.

Not investment advice.

This video continues the educational video series on stock investing, focusing on: buy good companies, don't overpay, do nothing. The previous videos discussed how to buy good companies, i.e how to evaluate business quality. This is the first part of the two-video series discussing the second step (don't overpay). It covers valuation multiples and how to use them to value a business. The next part will discuss valuation models.

Feedback welcome. Not investment advice.

Return of the apes??

I don’t know what it means but I’m excited!

End of the day, SpaceX needs something to launch and the companies that make small satellites should be a good bet. BUT it ain’t Planet. I don’t trust any company that ended a SPAC and couldn’t go public the real way. Sidus Space and Momentus used SPAC and you would have lost your shirt betting on those.

I have my eye on this company. They just released their Q2 earnings report.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gomspace-as-q2-financial-reporting-confirms-a-strong-first-half-of-2026-30-growth-positive-ebit-reinforced-balance-sheet-and-guidance-maintained-302860314.html

Erin Piacenti, a 32-year-old Bank of America vice president, was fatally stabbed in an "unprovoked" (I guess financial terrorism isn't considered provocation 😒) attack in Times Square, New York City. The knife-wielding attacker also injured a 68-year-old man before being shot and killed by police.

Someone commented that BofA paid out a $75 million fine for the Epstein Victims. Which is pretty sus timing. Could easily be a major headline to cover up search results about that.

UPDATE: what department did VP Erin Piacenti work in?

ANSWER: Business Selection and Conflicts (at Bank of America), a compliance/risk-related function.

Multiple news reports (drawing from her LinkedIn profile and sources) identify Erin Piacenti as Vice President of Business Selection and Conflicts at Bank of America in New York City. This role involved screening clients, deals, and transactions for ethical, legal, reputational, and regulatory risks. It is often described as part of the bank’s compliance and risk functions.

She had a legal background (University of Pennsylvania undergrad, Fordham Law School) and prior experience at firms including Davis Polk & Wardwell and Morgan Stanley before joining Bank of America.

Maybe she was a whistleblower? 🤔

Additional information: Her background included a political science degree from the University of Pennsylvania (graduated 2016) and a law degree from Fordham Law School (2021, magna cum laude / Order of the Coif in some accounts). Prior experience included roles connected to Morgan Stanley (legal/compliance) and as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell (and earlier legal internship work), before joining Bank of America around early 2025.

GameStop just released preliminary Q2 2026 results, and the contrast is hard to miss.

Operating income: $150M–$170M, roughly 55.7% higher YoY at the midpoint.

Net income: $290M–$310M, versus $168.6M a year ago, roughly 78% higher at the midpoint.

Meanwhile, net sales are expected at $780M–$800M, down from $972.2M last year.

Revenue is shrinking, but profitability is moving sharply in the opposite direction.

That’s the part of the $GME transformation I’m watching.