Musk's Unexpected "Baby Shark is the Best" Tweet Sends Korean Publisher's Stock Up 10% During Trading

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla [Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has been criticized for influencing cryptocurrency prices through his tweets, unexpectedly posted a tweet about the Korean animation 'Baby Shark,' causing the stock price of the Korean publishing company that owns shares in the Baby Shark production company to surge.

On the 1st (local time), Musk tweeted on his Twitter, "Baby Shark has beaten everyone. The number of views is higher than the total population."

[Image source=Twitter capture]

This was a reply to a tweet posted on the official Twitter account of the famous American animation 'South Park.' The tweet contained a scene from the South Park animation featuring various 'memes' (meme: photos and videos that become subjects of parody and recreation on the internet and become popular).

In response to that tweet, Musk suddenly posted a tweet saying, "Baby Shark beats all of this."

As of 2 PM Korean time on the 2nd, the Baby Shark video on YouTube has recorded 8.68 billion views.

Following this, Samsung Publishing, which owns 19.43% of SmartStudy, the producer of Baby Shark, saw its stock price surge by up to 10% during trading on the Korean stock market on the 2nd. The stock price then stabilized and was trading at a 4% increase compared to the previous day as of 2 PM.

Bloomberg reported, "His tweet moved the stock price once again," adding, "We were able to confirm once more his power to influence prices of meme stocks, including cryptocurrency prices and GameStop, which are popular among young investors in online communities."

Meanwhile, Musk has faced criticism for influencing stock prices with indiscriminate tweets and has received warnings from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the SEC notified Tesla last year of a violation of the agreement regarding Musk's use of Twitter.

The tweet pointed out by the SEC was, "Tesla's stock price seems too high." After this tweet, Tesla's stock price plunged by 11%, causing dissatisfaction among investors.

In a document sent by the SEC's San Francisco office to Tesla in May last year, it was pointed out that "the company failed to implement or control the (agreement) procedures despite Musk's repeated violations," and criticized that "Tesla abandoned the obligations imposed by court order."