Looks like one of Nintendo’s shareholders has made some movements in their stock count. According to the worldwide media publication Reuters, Saudia Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has just increased their overall stake in the company, raising their stock share from 5.01% to 6.07%. For those who don’t know, the PIF is the main sovereign wealth fund of the entire nation of Saudi Arabia. It is mainly controlled by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, and uses its own sub division company called the Savvy Gaming Group to make these investments.
This small percentage increase might not seem like a big deal, but the investment increase is apparently much more than it seems. According to Reuters, the PIF is putting all of this money into video games as a way to get a return investment and move away from their longstanding reliance on oil sales. The company has been pouring money into a plethora of different video game studios and companies over the years such as SNK, in which they are now the principal owners, and Embracer, in which they invested $1 billion as part of a massive percentage stock intake.
They also own a 5% stake in Capcom, which is also estimated at over 1$ billion, and before that in 2021, Activision Blizzard, for substantial amount as well. They initially invested into Nintendo in May 2022, purchasing a 5.01% stake. Inexplicably, this made the country of Saudi Arabia the fifth biggest shareholder of the entire company. The PIF stated at the time that the purchase was merely for “investment purposes” but now that they increased their overall ownership, one can’t help but wonder if Saudi Arabia will go even further and add some more stocks to their ownership. Only time will tell if the PIF will eventually have more say in the video game business.