Steve Cohen’s rise on Twitter was brief. Less than three months after he purchased the Mets, the hedge-fund billionaire deleted his social media account.
If Cohen was going to cancel his Twitter account, I would have predicted a controversy with the Mets as the likely cause, but instead, it happened in the wake of Reddit users rallying their support for GameStop.
I’m not a financial pundit, so I don’t know if the decision by Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management to bail out Melvin Capital influenced the shady restrictions on people trying to purchase GameStop stock. But Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who doubles as “Davey Day Trader” suggested jail for Cohen and seemingly led to the end of his Twitter fun.
“PRISON TIME” Portnoy wrote Thursday, linking Cohen and other hedge-fund billionaires to the tweet.
And with that, three months after Cohen started engaging with baseball fans on Twitter, the new Mets owner felt he was ready to enter the ring with a social media elite in Portnoy.
“Hey Dave, What’s your beef with me. I’m just trying to make a living just like you. Happy to take this offline,” Cohen replied.
Portnoy had the gun pointed at Cohen. But the Mets owner kept his responses poised, simple and denied any charges that were thrown at him, causing Dave to back off and even acknowledge appreciation for the exchange.
Despite the appreciation, Portnoy later said he does not believe Cohen was handless in halting trade on GameStop and other Reddit rallied stocks. And apparently, neither did a lot of Cohen’s Twitter following. After reengaging with Portnoy on Twitter Friday, Cohen deleted his social media account that night.
Saturday, Cohen released a statement explaining his decision to delete his Twitter account, citing “personal threats.”
“I’ve really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter which was unfortunately overtaken this week by misinformation unrelated to the Mets that led to our family getting personal threats,” the statement read. “So I’m going to take a break for now. We have other ways to listen to your suggestions and remain committed to doing that.
“I love our team, this community, and our fans, who are the best in baseball. Bottom line is that this week’s events in no way affect our resources and drive to put a championship team on the field. #LGM!”
Cohen also drew the ire of WFAN morning host Boomer Esiason, who vowed to never attend another Mets game “until I find out exactly what’s going on here.” Referring to Cohen’s possible connection with swiftly imposed restrictions on trading apps.
“Hey, I don’t want to hear that from you, you know what I mean?” Esiason said Friday morning. “You hedge-fund billionaire. Just keep your mouth shut.”
Just another NFL-millionaire calling out a hedge-fund billionaire.
