South Korea’s wealth gaps have inspired such debt-focused media as Parasite and Squid Game in recent years, though some lucky retail investors have found themselves a part of Elon Musk’s massive, unofficial fan club in the country.
Musk’s fans in South Korea have amassed around $15 billion in Tesla shares, comparable to the stakes of top holders Larry Ellison or T. Rowe Price Group, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Many fans in Korea have dubbed themselves “Teslams,” a blend of the words “Tesla” and “Islam,” even signing off posts with “Temen,” a combo of “Tesla” and “Amen.”
One such shareholder is Park Sunghyun and her husband, who sold their home in Seoul and moved into a rental apartment with their seven-year-old son. Upon doing so, the family put its $230,000 in savings into Tesla shares.
SpaceX Launches South Korea’s First Mission to the Moon [VIDEO] https://t.co/erFslr6P5V
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Park, 40, said, “I thought I would live well by working at a good company after college, but the reality is that we are the poorest in our neighborhood.” Park continued, “Living as a salaried worker, there are so many limitations.”
Park and her husband weren’t planning on risking their savings for Tesla. However, when selling their home in 2019 in hopes of buying a bigger one didn’t pan out due to borrowing capacity and high prices, the couple found itself in a tough situation.
South Korean investors have been one of Tesla’s top stakeholders since at least 2020, currently ranking seventh with around 1.6 percent of the company’s shares.
