A GameStop shop in New York City last month.
Photo: nick zieminski/Reuters
Grand Central Publishing has acquired an upcoming book by author Ben Mezrich about the recent trading frenzy involving shares of videogame retailer GameStop Corp. GME 2.68% that pitted small investors against hedge funds.
Ben Sevier, Grand Central’s publisher, said he plans for the book, titled “The Antisocial Network,” to be published this fall.
Grand Central Publishing, a division of Lagardère MMB -0.10% SCA’s Hachette Book Group, declined to say how much it paid for the book. Eric Simonoff, Mr. Mezrich’s agent, said the publisher made a pre-emptive bid for the book, preventing it from going to auction.
At least four book proposals—including Mr. Mezrich’s—are either being circulated to publishers or in the works, according to people familiar with the matter. The interest is a reflection of the widespread fascination created after GameStop shares were bid up well beyond logical measure by investors who followed the stock on social network Reddit and other platforms.
The movie rights to Mr. Mezrich’s proposal, titled “The Antisocial Network,” had previously been acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. earlier this week.
Mr. Mezrich is one of the country’s leading nonfiction writers, having authored top-selling titles including “Bringing Down the House” and “The Accidental Billionaires”—a book about Facebook Inc.’s founding, which was later adapted for the big screen as “The Social Network.”
Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at [email protected]
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