Gabriel Plotkin was one of the victims of a campaign to raise GameStop’s stock prices to unprecedented highs. Gabriel, head of hedge fund Melvin Capital Management, bet that GameStop’s stock price would plummet due to its outdated business model. Due to the rise in GameStop’s stock prices, Melvin Capital recorded a 53% loss and Gabriel personally lost $460 million, according to Bloomberg.
In 2020, Plotkin took home a mouth-watering $846 million, earning him a spot among the top hedge fund earners. Melvin Capital abandoned the bet due to the extraordinary nature of GameStop’s rising stock prices. Despite the stunning loss, Melvin is still in business, partly thanks to huge investments by Ken Griffin and Steve Cohen.
This piece will look at Gabriel Plotkin’s wife Yaara Bank-Plotkin.
Yaara reportedly filed for divorce following the GameStop stock price debacle
The GameStop stock price debacle cast a spotlight not only on Gabriel’s business dealings but also on his personal life. Some focused on his upbringing and others on his love life.
Gabriel married Yaara Bank in 2006 and the couple has two kids, a son, and a daughter. It was recently reported that Yaara filed for divorce after Gabriel lost a huge chunk of his money due to the rise of GameStop’s stock prices.
Similar to the push to fund GameStop’s stock, the divorce rumor also originated from the internet. On 31st January 2021, a user named Emerald Turner tweeted in all caps: “Yaara Bank-Plotkin, Wife of Melvin Capital founder Gabriel Plotkin, has filed for divorce citing ‘irreconcilable differences.’
The tweet spread like wildfire, with many believing it to be true. However, it is highly unlikely that the divorce rumors are factual.
Yaara once opened her home to victims of war as part of her work with the Belev Echad program
Yaara Bank-Plotkin was born to and raised by Israeli parents in Queens, New York. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from New York University. Yaara spends plenty of time working with the Belev Echad program.
The program brings victims of terror and injured Israeli Defense Force soldiers on a 10-day trip to New York for sight-seeing and interaction with the Jewish Community in New York. In 2014, Yaara invited 10 of the program participants to have breakfast with her family. She told Chabad:
“Everyone in my family was in the Israeli army. I didn’t have to serve. This is just another way to give back. We need to do whatever is possible for them. They are doing everything for Jews all over the world. They are protecting Israel for Jews all over the world. This is love therapy. When the community embraces the soldiers, that is the greatest therapy.”