Saudi Public Fund, buys 5% of Nintendo stocks
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has deepened its bet on stocks, and just bought over 5% stake, worth about $3 billion, in Japan’s Nintendo
- In a Japanese regulatory filing, cited it held just over 5% of Nintendo as of March 31.
Citing that the stake was purely an investment, suggesting it didn’t intend to try to influence the company’s strategy.
A Nintendo spokesman declined to comment.
*Bloomberg tweet on Nintendo stocks purchase
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund reports a 5.01% stake in Nintendo https://t.co/PzNdh5npEj
— Bloomberg (@business) May 18, 2022
Nintendo was a big winner in the early stages of pandemic as people stayed at home and played more videogames.
More recently,
the company’s results have lagged behind, in part because of supply issues and because its flagship Switch console has been on the market for more than five years.
Nintendo said last week that sales of the Switch fell 20% compared with the previous year, and it forecast a further fall this year tied to supply problems.
High oil prices mean Saudi Arabia is flush with cash this year.
Much of the money is expected to be handed to the PIF to invest domestically and overseas.
The fund says it has $600 billion in assets.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has instructed the fund to help to diversify the economy away from dependence on oil revenues, and it has invested in building the entertainment and tourism industries.
Saudi Arabia’s government oil revenue is expected to grow 66% this year to roughly $250 billion, with a surplus above public spending of about $80 billion, or 7.8% of economic output, according to Saudi bank Jadwa Investment.
