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A seven-meter-tall statue of Young-hee from “Squid Game" (I-Hwa Cheng/Getty Images)

The final season of “Squid Game” might be the last time Americans ever care about the Korean won

No spoilers!!!

The final season of “Squid Game” was released on Friday, and continued its perfect track record of prompting Americans to do something generally quite out of character: show interest in another country.

Google Trends data shows that searches for “Korean won” spiked after the third season of Netflix’s hit show dropped, just as they did for seasons 1 and 2.

Squid Game searches chart
Sherwood News

For reference, the brief period when martial law was declared in South Korea in early December 2024 is just the little upward wiggle you see in the chart prior to the release of the second season.

The first season of “Squid Game” was Netflix’s top show ever, with 1.65 billion hours spent watching in its first 28 days. Shares of the streaming giant are up 125% since that debut on September 17, 2021, versus a 39% rise for the S&P 500.

The macabre thriller still keeps its viewers turning from one screen to a smaller one to figure out how much Seong Gi-hun and his fellow competitors stand to make. Searches for “45.6 billion” — the total prize pool for “Squid Game” — also pop on the launch of every season.

These well-telegraphed spikes in demand create their own supply from outlets looking to game search engine optimization, which, like “Squid Game,” is a perilous endeavor that has claimed the live(lihood)s of many journalists.

…and to answer your question, it’s about $33.6 million.

Squid Game SEO Game
Source: Google Search

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Luke Kawa

Trump Media jumps after announcing plans to distribute digital tokens to shareholders

Trump Media & Technology Group is jumping in premarket trading after the owner of Truth Social announced plans to distribute a digital token to shareholders in partnership with Crypto.com (which is also its partner in the event contracts space).

Shareholders will receive one token per share owned, according to the press release, which can give the holder access to “various rewards” that “may include benefits or discounts tied to Trump Media products.”

This move is a little closer to home for Trump Media, which has effectively been a digital asset treasury, compared to its recent merger with fusion energy company TAE Technologies, which will radically transform the entity.

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Luke Kawa

Nvidia, TSMC rise as the world’s most valuable company reportedly asks for more chips to meet Chinese demand

Nvidia and TSMC are modestly higher in premarket trading Wednesday after Reuters reported that the chip designer asked the Taiwanese chip manufacturing giant to boost production of its H200 AI chips.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said that Nvidia would be able to ship the best-performing processors from its Hopper generation to China, with 25% of the proceeds going to the US government. Per the report, Chinese companies have already placed orders for more than 2 million of these chips in 2026, roughly triple the 700,000 in inventory that Nvidia has in reserve. Reuters added that Nvidia is planning on selling these chips at around $27,000 apiece, which would amount to a more than $54 billion boost in revenues if it’s able to realize all this reported demand. The ability to do so will also depend on Chinese regulators green-lighting purchases. The chip designer’s success in 2025 has come despite being effectively shut out of the Chinese AI market for the year.

The outlet previously reported that Nvidia plans to begin sending these GPUs to China before the Lunar New Year holiday (which starts on February 17, 2026), and that Chinese companies are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get their hands on these powerful chips.

During Nvidia’s Q3 conference call, which came prior to the Trump announcement, CEO Jensen Huang expressed confidence in his ability to meet demand for the company’s GPUs going forward, saying, “In many cases, we’ve secured a lot of supply for ourselves, because obviously, they’re working with the largest company in the world in doing so.”

Huang’s relationship with critical supply chain partner TSMC appears to benefit from a personal touch: during his November visit to Taiwan, he met with the chipmaker’s CEO, CC Wei, as well as other execs over hot pot, and called TSMC “the pride of the world” the next day.

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Luke Kawa

Nike rises after CEO Elliott Hill purchases $1 million in company stock

Nike is sprinting to the finish line in 2025, up more than 2% in premarket trading after a filing after the close on Tuesday showed that CEO Elliott Hill purchased a little over $1 million in company stock on December 29.

The news comes on the heels of last week’s revelation that Apple CEO and board member Tim Cook bought nearly $3 million in Nike stock.

Hill returned to the company to replace former CEO John Donahoe in October 2024. This is Hill’s only open market purchase of Nike stock during his tenure atop the company.

Shares of the sports apparel maker are still down about 17% year to date.

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