Newegg Commerce Inc. has had an interesting summer.

The online retailer known for selling refurbished hardware saw its stock price soar. At its peak in mid-August, the company’s stock rose to $128.09 after steadily puttering around in the single digits for most of this year. That was the highest it has traded since April 2022.

While the company reported on Aug. 21 favorable earnings for the first half 2025, Newegg’s financial picture became slightly clearer for investors. The share price took a nosedive back to somewhat normal levels, and as of Wednesday, the company’s stock closed at $47.12. Still, this puts share prices with a year-to-date gain of more than 428%.

So, what gives?

The sudden boost in Newegg’s shares may largely be because of one key investor: Vladimir Galkin, co-founder and executive chairman of Florida-based HUBX. According to The Motley Fool, Galkin controls nearly 18% of Newegg’s shareholder votes.

Galkin is the second-largest shareholder in JetBlue Airways and one of the big winners from the GameStop’s “meme stock” rally in 2021, Seeking Alpha reported. He has created enough of a reputation as quite the active investor – particularly in the sphere of “meme stocks” (or company shares that experience a sudden surge in popularity and price due to online hype.) In the end, his stock purchases seem to create their own small waves. 

“Meme stock investing is what Galkin does, pulling strings and pushing buttons to boost social media chatter around the stocks he’s buying,” The Motley Fool reported.  “And at this point, his strategy is famous enough that the stock buys themselves have market-moving power.”

Earnings boost

Newegg reported $695.7 million in net sales for the first six months of 2025, a 12.6% increase from the same period a year ago. New gaming hardware from the likes of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. helped drive the favorable earnings, according to the company.

“These new product launches further boosted organic traffic and spurred robust cross-category purchasing, driving both topline growth and improved gross margins,” Anthony Chow, Newegg’s chief executive, said in a statement. “We also benefited from pull-forward spending due to tariff uncertainty while simultaneously minimizing tariff impact on supply chain and customer experience through close collaboration with our key partners and suppliers.”

The company announced plans for several projects in the second half of 2025, including a gaming initiative that “underscore(s) our commitment to growing and supporting the gaming ecosystem, giving back to the very community that has fueled our success,” Chow said in a statement.

This announcement comes as Newegg also reported a net loss of $4.2 million for the first half of the year, an improvement from the $25 million net loss for the first six months of 2024. It also garnered $79.8 million in gross profits for the first half, up 26.5% from $63.1 million for the same time period in 2024. It has been a remarkable turn of events for Newegg, especially since it disclosed its 2019 financials in a prospectus the company filed prior to going public in 2021. The company reported a net loss of $17 million that year. 

The gaming rush

While the company’s stock price reached unexpected heights, the company was at work hyping up its official foray into the gaming world.

Since Newegg was started in 2001, it had long stood at the periphery of the gaming world and cemented its reputation as the first stop for gaming enthusiasts to create their ultimate budget-friendly gaming rig. In August, Newegg officially made its bid as an active part of the gaming community when it unveiled a 23,000-square-foot gaming arena at its headquarters in Diamond Bar.

“The gamer zone grew out of Newegg’s core identity,” said Andrew Choi, a marketing director at Newegg. “We’ve always been about PC building, gaming and serving people who love technology. More importantly, gaming culture runs deep within our customer base.”

In true Newegg fashion, the company has listed the specs of every console, desktop, headset, keyboard and gaming chair found in the futuristic gaming room – all of which adds up to around $200,000 in hardware. The building will host esports tournaments and PC workshops, allowing gamers to build their own personal computers and streamers to have access to studios. The physical space is a companion to Newegg’s new online community forums where users discuss new game releases, hardware processing power and troubleshooting.

Newegg’s commitment to gaming highlights its longtime vision as more than just an e-commerce company. An investor relations presentation from March 2024 showcased Newegg’s foray into content creation, shoppable livestreams and influencer campaigns.

“Our strategy is to create a complete ecosystem for gamers, PC builders and tech enthusiasts,” Choi said. “We’re building a connective experience.”