Saudi Public Investment Fund Considering Increasing Its Stake In Nintendo

Will make investments in a "friendly" way

06 Oct 2024, 09:30 by Damien McFerran · Nintendo Life

Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund is considering increasing its stake in Nintendo and other gaming firms, it has been revealed.

Speaking in an interview with Japanese new agency Kyodo News, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, vice chair of the PIF's gaming unit, revealed the desire to expand but said that there was no urgency to make further investments, and that any increased stake will be made in a "friendly" manner.

PIF currently owns 8.58% of Nintendo currently, and is the largest outside investor in the company.

It has minority stakes in video game companies Nexon (10.53%), Keoi Tecmo (8.99%), and Capcom (6.60%). It also owns 96% of King of Fighters and Fatal Fury creator SNK.

Increased investment in gaming entities is part of Saudi Arabia's drive to reduce its reliance on oil exports, the nation's main source of wealth.

It initially took a 5% stake in Nintendo in 2022, increasing the stake to 6% the following year.

News The Crown Prince Of Saudi Arabia Is Now SNK's Largest Shareholder

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News Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund Raises Stake In Nintendo To 6%

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[source reuters.com, via mynintendonews.com]

About Damien McFerran

Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media's sites from an editorial perspective. He's also the editor of Time Extension, the network's newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming's past glories.

Comments 3

1
martynstuff
9m ago

Just a heads up before anyone jumps to conclusions-

Nintendo's president has stated they have plans to tackle any hostile takeovers
Nintendo is a public company and anyone can buy shares so they can't prevent people from doing so
They can however object should any shareholders from outside of Japan owning more than 10% of a company by taking it to the government (or was it courts?) to put a stop to it.

In SNKs case, I would hazard a guess that they either accepted the buyout or no longer exist and render all employees as redundant. Again, I'm not Billy Business but that's my understanding

2
Lizuka
8m ago

God I hope not. I'm kind of willing to tolerate the stake they have now, reluctantly, but if we ever get to a point where they own like half of Nintendo then I'm done with Nintendo.

Where's the new neo geo that they promises years ago?