The Saudi Public Investment Fund is doubling down on itsNintendobet, having just announced it added the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars to its existing stake in the Japanese gaming giant. This development arrives barely a month afterSaudi Arabia upped its Nintendo stake to 6%, thus becoming the fifth-largest shareholder of the Kyoto-based company.The Saudi fund started making major bets in the gaming space circa 2020, when it became the largest shareholder of legendary Japanese fighting game developer SNK. Since then, the Middle Eastern country’s gaming investments grew increasingly aggressive, withSaudi Arabia recently investing in Activision and EA, as well as multiple eSports organizations. Its Nintendo bets started in May 2022, when the Public Investment Fund acquired a 5% stake in the company, valued at around $2.7 billion at the time.RELATED:Saudi Arabia Now Owns Nearly All of SNKThe state-owned group now announced it has raised its controlling holdings of Nintendo to 7.08%, a 1.01% increase since mid-January. Based on the current number of outstanding Nintendo shares and their average price over the last month, this development means Saudi Arabia invested around $550 million in the Switch manufacturer over the last four weeks alone. However, it might have actually upped its stake at a lower price, assuming it took advantage of the fact that Nintendo’s stock saw a significant 8% decline on February 8, possibly prompted by the emergence of some notably lowered projections for the company’s next fiscal year. For example, Wedbush analysts reduced their anticipated Nintendo earnings from an earlier $0.67 to $0.72 per share for the forecast period ending July 27, 2025.
Either way, the February 8 decline saw the value of Saudi Nintendo holdings disclosed in January drop by nearly $250 million to $3.09 billion, putting the overall investment around $100 million in the red. Assuming that’s when the fund decided to increase its stake, reaching 7.08% ownership would have cost it some $500 million. Not to mention that acquiring an extra point in the company and publicly announcing that move likely had a material impact onNintendo’s stock, which grew by 3.04% in the last 24 hours, putting the Saudi investment back in black.
The fund’s stake in Nintendo is valued at $3.53 billion as of February 16 after-hours trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Almost a year ago to date,Saudi Arabia also acquired a similar stake in Capcom.
While the Public Investment Fund has yet to make significant money on its Nintendo bet relative to the size of its holdings, its latest move is a clear signal that Riyadh remains bullish on the Japanese company. The same could be said about its views of the competitive gaming business, as evidenced bySaudi Arabia’s recent acquisitions of ESL and FACEIT.
