Saudi Arabia Owns 5% Of Nintendo (after buying 96% of SNK and stakes in Activision, Capcom, EA, Nexon and Take 2)

Saudi Arabia Now Owns 5% Of Nintendo

Saudi Arabia Now Owns 5% Of Nintendo

It goes on the shelf next to similar stakes in Capcom, EA, Take-Two and Activision

Luke Plunkett

Today 4:10AM

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, a near-bottomless pit of cash tasked with diversifying the nation’s economy (and whitewashing their human rights record), has acquired a 5.01 percent stake in Nintendo.

The news was announced in a filing made with Japan’s Finance Ministry, Bloomberg reports. It follows similar investments made last year in Capcom, EA, Take-Two and Activision, along with almost complete ownership of SNK.

Bloomberg says this would make the Public Investment Fund the company’s “fifth-largest shareholder.” If this is the first time you’ve encountered this kind of money, know that the PIF fucking sucks, as does the man running it, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. As Ian wrote just last month:

Saudi Arabia spent the last year throwing money around the video game industry, with strategicinvestments in companies like Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Capcom, and Nexon. Like many of Mohammed bin Salman’s dealings, these purchases fall within the Saudi Vision 2030 strategy established during his mid-decade rise to power, which on paper is meant to diversify the kingdom’s oil-centric economy.

In reality, however, Saudi Vision 2030 is largely a propaganda campaign focused on whitewashing Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record. The regressive monarchy seemingly hopes that aligning itself with entertainment industries around the world might loosen the purse strings of businesses wary of investing in the oil-rich country’s economy, especially with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the ongoing, U.S.-backed Yemeni genocide still looming overhead.

Video games aren’t the only entertainment industry in the PIF’s sites. Hollywood has been no stranger to Saudi cash in recent years, and sporting teams and competitions have likewise been a top priority for the Crown Prince. A big-money purchase of Premier League side Newcastle last year went through despite widespread protests over the state’s human rights record, while PIF money has also been spent on everything from horse racing to Formula 1.

Saudi Arabia needs a hardcore sanction after Khashoggi's murder..

They are clearly digging their paws in a race against China. And I wish Nintendo, nor any of these companies took their investment.

He's a bastard but he's ridiculously rich. Nothing will change. They will continue taking his money.

*sigh* Literally 0 posts in. I'm not surprised, but still disappointed.

All of these companies are publicly traded. This means that anyone can buy any number of the available shares at any time if they have the money to do so. They do not need to negotiate with the company they buy from, or even inform them. The new only way to prevent things like this is to be a private company.

And before you try to make anything up like some kind of imaginary threshold where they have to contact the company, source your claim.

China and Saudi Arabia are very close allies, always defending each other over any sanctions or allegations of human rights abuses. For example, Saudi Arabia was defending China over the Uyghur concentration camps, while China was defending Saudi Arabia over the Jamal Khashoggi assassination.

Finally Gamergate prays have been answered and no more women in video games! I joke, those Saudis are probably more progressive.

Then the US needs to drop the Saudi's as allies. I fear their thoughts on Ukraine just as another useless ally in the ME had for a while.

@techhog89: so it’s nothing but a propaganda campaign?? I sure hope so. I don’t want Saudis making Video Game decisions at all. Like gameplay and such.

Give Mario an AK47 already.

@hardwenzen: how about this….Saudi Arabia is just doing business as usual and not much is going to change from Nintendo. Nothing. Enjoy your day.

That is the nature of the stock market.

The Saudi princes know oil wont sustain them forever. So from their perspective it makes sense they want to diversify into tech. They may be malicious, but they are no fools.

I want an AK47 as a pick up. Is this too much asking? Every game has it, its time for Mario to have it as well.

I read several months ago that they were buying up shares in smaller companies in hopes of making profits if those companies were bought out.

I don't see Nintendo being bought out though so this seems like a long term investment.

@techhog89: Why would I make anything up? That sounds ridiculous. I spoke my mind and now you're triggered? Make that make sense.

Mah boy techhog89 is permanently triggered when he posts on SW. Always mad at something or someone.

Yeah, as far as their output goes, I don't think much will change.

Since Mohammed bin Salman got into power, Saudi Arabia has been changing. It has been modernizing, secularizing and moving away from theocracy. That of course doesnt change the fact that he is still ruthless and callous. But I don't think this will change how any of the games these studios have been making.

Uh huh. Yeah, I've heard they have money over there.

I see no problem here.

You already kinda did make something up though by claiming that they were taking his money. That's like if a PS5 is found in the room of a terrorist and then claiming that Sony takes money from terrorists. The only people who control who buys shares of companies on an open stock market are the buyers themselves.

Nintendont is doomed... Dooomed I tellz ya. :P

Of course you don't.

Thanks Saudi arabia

The real question is: Will this impact Nintendo's direction in any way? I kinda doubt it.

This doesn't change the fact that Nintendo sucks and I don't want to give them my money. Just icing on the cake at this point.

@nintendoboy16: Then what’s your problem with this commercial deal?

@kadin_kai: My problem is that a murderous authoritarian has stocks in the game industry. And now Nintendo is in the mix.

Not even China had this grip on Nintendo, and they do/Did Activision, Ubisoft, etc. And typing that made me dirty.

Makes me wonder if nintendoboy16 is malding right now🤭

@nintendoboy16: You do realise western countries in particular the British and American have far more blood on their hands?

And those who made the decisions to spill so much blood most probably own shares in companies domestic and foreign; and you buy goods and services directly and indirectly from them?

So if you’re unhappy that Saudi Arabia owns part of Nintendo, then you should also be unhappy with companies that let’s say George W Bush has invested in. Add Dick Cheney too, the late Colin Powel, I’m sure Tony Blair has quite a lot of shares too… or is 5% your threshold?

@kadin_kai: Nice wall of Whataboutism. God forbid I expect a bit better in knowing where my money goes.

Dude, I'm an American liberal and I hate what Bush and Cheney have done to my country.

This doesn't give them any "grip" on Nintendo. Again, this isn't some kind of mutual agreement; it's stocks purchased on the open market.

It's completely understandable if you want to stop supporting these companies because their success now profits this piece of excrement. However, don't blame the companies for this one, as they have no say whatsoever in who buys their stock. They couldn't have prevented this, and they can't undo it.

@techhog89: BOTW3 will be heavily influenced by Saudi Arabia. Let that sink in.

@techhog89: You don't know the power of the Saudi Crown, do you?

You don't know how stocks work, do you? You're making baseless claims here.

@techhog89: So baseless they own majority stake in SNK?

It's not even that. It's just a terrible person trying to make money off of the video games industry. 5% is a huge chunk, but it's still a minority share and doesn't give them any power or influence.

If you're gonna hate on Nintendo for human rights violations, at least pick something they actually had a choice in, like the slave labor building thier hardware.

Which has nothing to do with anything you've said up to this point. You were claiming that Nintendo and the other companies listed accepted an offer from Mr. Bone Saw. That's not what happened.

Never gonna happen, Trump high-fived them for that.

The US isn't any better, instead of holding them accountable over Yemen, they helped them. Saudi wouldn't have been able to commit any atrocities in Yemen without US support. Btw, the Saudi's used a fighter jet on a bus full of kids in Yemen, not only did most not hear about it, the US didn't care.

They own SNK? How's that possible I thought Foreign entities can't acquire more than 50% of Japanese public companies.

5% stake is enough to put someone on a board seat in a public company.

This thread should've been in the Politics section lmao.

Something, something, Halo Infinite... Let that sink in. :-P

That depends on the company. For Nintendo, that's not the case, or else every Nintendo game would be full of ads for real world banks.

Now, they do have a disproportionately large percentage of the voting rights when the time comes, but they don't automatically get candidacy or even the right to choose candidates.

@techhog89: slave labor building their hardware?? Can you provide some evidence rather then heresay??

I... I need to prove that there's slave labor in Chinese factories? Okay...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51697800

All big gaming companies are evil assholes by default.

*shrug*

It's still not a good look, THAT'S my point. If anything...

@nintendoboy16 said:

@techhog89 said:

@nintendoboy16 said:

@techhog89: So baseless they own majority stake in SNK?

Which has nothing to do with anything you've said up to this point. You were claiming that Nintendo and the other companies listed accepted an offer from Mr. Bone Saw. That's not what happened.

It's still not a good look, THAT'S my point. If anything...

I can't tell if you're trolling, don't understand what I'm saying, or what. Anybody can buy stocks, including murderous dictators. They don't need to interact with the company management in any way to do so. Nintendo didn't even know about this until around the same time it was publicly reported. There's nothing that a publicly traded company can do to prevent any individual from buying stocks other than going private. You're effectively saying that no company should ever go public because bad people might buy stocks. So no, I don't get how it's worse.

How about you try actually explaining your points instead of making quick remarks that don't say anything? Because right now it just sounds like you have no idea what you're talking about but think that you're expert. "Nintendo looks bad because a bad person bought stock in them" is such a ridiculous take, and the fact that you keep doubling down is embarrassing.

To save some possible time though, there's no danger of a hostile takeover like the SNK one. First of all, SNK was cheap. The 96% stake MBS bought in them cost less than 1/5th of what they just spent on a 5% stake in Nintendo. Second, large companies like Nintendo, Capcom, SE and the like are basically immune to hostile takeovers, especially in Japan. Not only are there government protections, but their deep pockets mean they can just buy back enough stock to make it impossible for an outside company to get a majority stake. Nintendo is especially weary of this and has measures in place to make it impossible.

im sorry my pettiness can't ignore this. So you're gonna be dropping support of any and all Nintendo stuff right? Because you made a big ol stink about it that the murderers and war criminals were funding SNK, but I'm not seeing taht nrg right now against the Big N. Where did it go?