• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Saudi Arabia has bought a 5% stake in Nintendo (VGC)

kingfey

Banned

Saudi Arabia has purchased a 5.01% stake in Nintendo, according to a filing to Japan’s Finance Ministry.

Bloomberg reports that the country’s Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund chaired by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, made the purchase for investment purposes.

The acquisition makes it the fifth-largest Nintendo shareholder, according to Bloomberg’s data.

This is the latest in a series of gaming investments made by the crown prince and his investment funds.

Last month, through his Electronic Gaming Development Company, the prince acquired 96% of acclaimed Japanese developer SNK, taking over ownership of the Fatal Fury, Metal Slug and King of Fighters studio.

Earlier this year, the nation’s Public Investment Fund had been used to invest stakes of more than 5% in both Capcom and South Korean online games publisher Nexon. These investments totalled over $1 billion.

In December 2020, the fund acquired over $3 billion worth of stock in Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two.

It’s set to receive a profit on part of that investment if Microsoft‘s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is successfully completed.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is reportedly central to crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s goal of making the Saudi economy less reliant on proceeds from oil.

PIF’s continued investments in video game companies may raise concerns for some, given Saudi Arabia’s longstanding history of human rights abuses.

The crown prince in particular has been accused of ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

According to its website, PIF’s vision is to be “a global investment powerhouse and the world’s most impactful investor, enabling the creation of new sectors and opportunities that will shape the future global economy, while driving the economic transformation of Saudi Arabia”.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
boom smile GIF
 

V4skunk

Banned
Should be a rule that anybody who arranges people to be chopped to pieces in Turkish embassies can’t invest in major companies just saying worth thinking about.
I'm pretty sure that was one of Bin Salmans brothers who is now dead from a chopper crash or under house arrest in Saudi.
There was a huge power vacuum when the dad, the leader of it all died.
The biggest mass shooting ever in the US! The Las Vegas shooting targeting Trump supporters was also something to do with this power struggle. The hotel the gunmen fired from is owned by Salmans brother.
 

kyliethicc

Member
I thought Japan disallowed such a thing for Japanese companies?
Only some companies.

Nintendo is not protected like Sony is. Different classifications.

Sony Corp is viewed as a tech company. Nintendo is an entertainment company.

The restrictions to protect domestic companies is for tech, not toys.
 
Last edited:

Toots

Gold Member
You decide...

Mohammed bin Salman has blood on his hands. He's responsible for the brutal murder of an innocent man (Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi).

I don't think Nintendo should be happy about this.
Dude was an al-quaida supporter with ties to the saudi secret service and a real shady uncle (Adnan Kashoggi) who was one of the key person in the Iran-contra weapons deal (which pissed of the Saudis quite a bit at the time)
Doesn't mean his killing is justified, no killing or torturre is ever justified, but as in every political mess, no one here is truly innocent.

edit : i put my rant under spoilers because it was beside the point of the thread
 
Last edited:
Nintendo is one of the companies where their games are so controversy free that saudi involvement isnt going to change much. Not like theyre going to add political messages or put peach in a burka.
 
Top Bottom