20-year-old GameStop Investor Donates Part of Windfall to Children’s Hospital

Photo courtesy of Hunter Kahn

Hunter Kahn used some of his GameStop stocks to buy a bunch of Nintendo Switch lite consoles for the patients in a Minneapolis children’s hospital.

Jullian McGinnis, Reporter

On February 3rd, 20-year-old Hunter Kahn, an investor at video game seller GameStop, donated part of the Wall Street windfall he and a group of amateur day traders earned by joining forces to turn the failing game selling company to an overnight stock market darling to Children’s Minnesota hospital. He said he saw the bonanza as a chance to do something good.

Kahn could have bought the 1990s Corvette he’s always wanted with the windfall, but he said he cashed out $30,000 of the GameStop stock he bought at $30 to $80 a share last month and used part of the proceeds to buy a bunch of Nintendo Switch Lite handheld consoles and video games from GameStop stores, of course, and donated them to patients at the hospital

“I wanted my donations to be GameStop purchases since this is how it all started, and there’s no one more deserving of Nintendo Switches than some kids going through a hard time,” Kahn told ABC News in a video interview.

Staff at the hospital stated that the surprise contribution Kahn made to their donation box this week has already put smiles on the faces of sick children being treated at the Minneapolis hospital.

“We’re grateful for donations that help bring joy to kids at our hospitals, especially during these challenging times,” hospital officials said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday. “The generosity of our community makes a difference to kids whose worlds have been turned upside down because of a health crisis.”

“I just walked up to the front desk. I didn’t actually get to give them out to the kids or anything like that. I’m sure that even without COVID there are security reasons why they can’t do that, which would make sense,” Kahn said. “But they made it super easy to donate. I just walked in, walked up to the front desk and said, ‘Hey, I’d like to give you guys these Switches.’ And the dude sitting there was like, ‘Oh, awesome. Thank you.'” He said it’s “amazing to hear” the patients at Children’s Minnesota are already using the gaming devices.

“I have been very fortunate in life and I have so much time ahead of me still,” Kahn said. “This donation, I can easily come back from it and I will continue to do donations in the future, hopefully, if things keep going well for myself. It feels better than when you wake up in the morning and you see that you made some money.”