Saudi Arabia's investment group buys $3.3 billion stake in Activision, EA and Take-Two
According to a recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), chaired by controversial crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, has acquired more than $3 billion worth of stock in famous video game publishers Activision Blizzard, EA and Take-Two. The investment is broken down to around $1.3 billion in Activision Blizzard shares, $1 billion in EA shares and $825m in Take-Two shares. According to Eurogamer, this amounts to around 3.5%, 2.6% and 3.5% of those respective companies' share totals.
This is not the first time the crown prince invested in video game companies as in late 2020, his charity acquired 33.3% of Japanese gaming company SNK stock, making it the largest shareholder.
However, the crown prince's involvement in the video games industry has not always been welcome. In June 2020, League of Legends developer Riot terminated a partnership for a project funded by Mohammed bin Salman following backlash from the eSports community.
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