THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK is the wild, true story of the subreddit Wall-Streeters', a loosely affiliated group of private investors and internet trolls who took down one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street, and in so doing, fired the first shot in a revolution that threatens to upend the financial establishment. Told with deep access, from multiple intersecting angles, it examines the culmination of a populist movement that began with the intersection of social media and the growth of simplified, democratizing financial portals -- represented by the biggest upstart in the business, Robin Hood, and its millions of mostly millennial devotees. The unlikely focus of the GameStop, a flailing brick and mortar dinosaur catering to teenagers and outsiders, that had somehow outlived forbearers like Blockbuster Video and Petsmart as the world rapidly moved online. The story comes to a head in a wild battle between Melvin Capital, a 13-billion-dollar hedge fund, one of the most respected and staid funds on the Street, and a disparate group of amateur day traders, video game nuts, and internet trolls on a subreddit calling itself Wall-Streeters'. At first, the subreddit was a joke -- a meme-filled, freewheeling place to share shoot-the-moon investment tips, laugh about big losses, and diamond hand emojis. Until some members noticed an opportunity -- and rode a rocket ship to tens of millions of dollars in earnings overnight. With insider sources and testimonies from inside Wall-Streeters', GameStop, the architects of Robinhood, Melvin Capital, and more, New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich brings to life one of the most striking, can't-make-this-up moments in financial history.
Softcover. English. Harper Collins. 2021. ISBN: 9780008497026. 289 pp. Good. Book No: 64439
