Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is resetting the priorities of its various foreign investments, which include technology, automobiles and other value-added businesses, it said.
A day after it was announced that the fund was among those interested in buying a minority stake of around a billion dollars in the DAZN platform for streaming sporting events backed by billionaire Len Blavatnik, the Saudi investment body surprised on Tuesday by reducing its stake in Japanese gaming company Nintendo.
The Japanese company, which specialises in the development, manufacture and sale of video game hardware and software, confirmed in a statement that the Saudi investment fund reduced its stake ‘from 8.58% to 7.54%’. According to Bloomberg estimates, the fund sold around 17.3 million shares in the company.
Last February, the Saudi fund became Nintendo’s largest shareholder after increasing its stake from 7.08% to 8.6%.
The Saudi authorities are seeking to make the Kingdom a key player in the electronic games industry, thus diversifying its economy, which is heavily dependent on oil. In this regard, they are investing 38 billion dollars to become a hub for the video game industry.
The growing interest in the gaming sector culminated in the launch in 2022 of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund Savi Group, whose board of directors is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In September of that year, it was announced that the company had committed $38 billion to the electronic gaming sector until 2030.
On Monday, Nintendo shares rose 3.9 per cent to their highest levels in more than a week after a senior executive of the sovereign wealth fund announced its decision to increase its holdings in Japanese gaming companies. The agency also invested billions of dollars in other companies in the industry, including Tencent, Activision and Cocoa Entertainment.
The potential deal with the DAZN platform is expected to give the fund greater influence in the European football arena, as DAZN is responsible for broadcasting top-flight leagues in Italy, Spain, Germany and France. The fund is considering buying approximately 10% of the London-based platform.
The fund is already part of an alliance that owns English Premier League side Newcastle United, as well as other Saudi professional league clubs, including Al-Nasr Club, the team where Cristiano Ronaldo plays.
DAZN, which offers a variety of sports content through its streaming platform, will be the first such broadcasting platform to attract potential investment from the Saudi fund, which has been pumping billions in recent years into other sports, such as Formula 1 and golf.
DAZN’s latest results showed its revenues rose 41 per cent to 2.1 billion dollars in 2022 amid rising subscription prices and winning the rights to broadcast the Premier League in Germany and Italy on its platform. However, it also recorded operating losses equivalent to 1.06 billion dollars due to rising rights costs.