in early 2021 created one of the biggest paydays in history for an executive of a Canadian public company.
Today, it makes investments and plays an advisory role to three hedge funds. The TSX-listed stock rarely trades more than a few hundred shares a day. Richard Mashaal runs Senvest Management LLC. out of Madison Avenue offices in New York City. Together, he and Victor own about 56 per cent of Senvest Capital, a stake worth about $485-million at Friday’s closing price.
But when a shorted stock rises sharply, it creates a “squeeze,” because the short sellers often need to buy shares back quickly at the higher prices to “cover” their loans. The campaign escalated into what seemed like a crusade to punish short sellers by causing those stocks to rise rapidly in value. In the first months of 2021, “meme stocks,” including Canada’s BlackBerry, rose rapidly and often fell just as hard.
The company, which had reported $212-million in net income in 2020 – just its second year ever over $200-million, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence – posted $733-million in profits for 2021.