Elon Musk has once again proved his ability to move markets with a casual aside about internet culture, as a comment about the viral “Baby Shark” YouTube video sparked a surge in the share price of a South Korean company. ”Baby Shark crushes all! Shares in South Korean firm Samsung Publishing – the second largest investor in the Baby Shark creator, SmartStudy – jumped by 10% before settling back to close more than 6% higher on the Korea Exchange in Busan. Musk said Baby Shark had “more views than humans”, a reference to the fact that the video – a repetitive shark-themed jingle popular with small children – has been watched 8.3bn times. A few months later, bitcoin fell back 17% after Tesla suspended bitcoin payments, citing long-known concerns about the fossil fuel intensity of bitcoin “mining”.

Source: The Guardian June 02, 2021 16:42 UTC