Melvin Capital Will Close Following Huge Losses on Meme Stocks And A Market Decline

Melvin Capital, formerly one of Wall Street's most successful hedge funds that lost billions in the meme stock saga, will cease operations following this year's market decline.

After years of double-digit profits, Gabe Plotkin, widely considered as one of the industry's greatest traders, told investors that the past 17 months have been "very difficult."

Plotkin was attempting to turn around the company after being discovered betting against retail favorite GameStop (NYSE:GME) in early 2021 and being blindsided by falling markets this year.

"The proper next step is to wind down the Funds by fully selling the Funds' assets and accounts and delivering cash to all investors," Plotkin said in a letter that Reuters obtained on Wednesday.

At the end of April, Melvin Capital held assets of $7.8 billion. In the first four months of 2022, the fund had a 23 percent loss, according to a source acquainted with the firm's accounts.

The losses this year follow significant losses in 2021, when Melvin Capital finished the year down 39 percent. The firm wagered that GameStop's stock would decline, but lost when ordinary investors took the opposite position and drove the stock soaring.

The company's assets were $12.5 billion at the start of 2021.

Plotkin stated in his letter that he had already obtained a large amount of cash and reduced the funds' exposure.

Plotkin's representative declined to respond.

Powerful investors, including Citadel LLC and Point72 Asset Management, where Plotkin had worked, continued to back Melvin for a time, investing billions in emergency funds in early 2021 amid the massive stock losses.

Plotkin informed investors earlier this year that he intended to reorganize and reduce assets from around $8.7 billion to $5 billion, while temporarily reducing fees. Investors responded vehemently to the ideas, and Plotkin was subsequently obliged to apologize and admit he had made an error.

Plotkin announced on Wednesday that he had begun selling the portfolio and will cease charging management fees beginning June 1. He also stated that he "gave everything" he had, but that it was insufficient to "bring the expected returns."

Melvin's largest investments at the end of the first quarter included Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV), Hilton Worldwide Holdings (NYSE:HLT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Datadog (NASDAQ:DDOG). In recent weeks, their stock prices have fallen substantially, sparking rumors that a hedge fund may be attempting to unwind bets.

Plotkin was a top investor at Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund, formerly known as SAC Capital Advisors, but he resigned in 2014 to start his own company after SAC pled guilty to criminal insider trading allegations. Melvin Capital gained 52.5% by the end of 2020, the year the epidemic began, after attracting the attention of influential investors and achieving rapid growth.

Melvin enjoyed average annualized gains of 30% from 2014 to 2020. Since its inception, the fund has returned an annual average of 11.9%.