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Saudi Arabian Organization MiSK Foundation Plans to Purchase Majority Stake in SNK
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The Saudi Arabian organization MiSK Foundation (Mohammed bin Salman Foundation) revealed on Thursday that it will invest US$216.5 million in Japanese game developer SNK through MiSK Foundation's wholly owned Electronic Gaming Development Company. The MiSK Foundation will own an initial 33.3% stake in SNK.
The Electronic Gaming Development Company will follow up by purchasing a 17.7% stake in the future, raising its ownership to 51% of SNK. The organization stated that the investment is still "subject to the fulfillment of the relevant regulatory conditions."
SNK has not yet itself confirmed the announcement by MiSK Foundation.
Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, is the organization's founder and chairman. The organization and the Saudi Arabian animation studio Manga Productions (also owned by MiSK Foundation) have hosted an internship program with SNK in the past.
In August 2015, Chinese technology company Wuhu Shunrong Sanqi's partly-owned online game company 37 Games purchased an 81.25% stake in SNK Playmore. 37 Games bought the stake for US$63.5 million (about 7.92 billion yen).
SNK Corporation was founded in 1978, but the company filed for bankruptcy in 2001. SNK Playmore was founded in August 2001, and the company also developed pachinko slot machines and smartphone games aside from console games, but withdrew from the pachislot (pachinko parlor slot machine game) business in 2015. SNK Playmore then changed back its name to SNK Corporation in December 2016.
SNK is known for its franchises such as King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Fatal Fury (Garō Densetsu), and Samurai Shodown (Samurai Spirits), and the NeoGeo console.
Sources: MiSK Foundation, 4Gamer (松本隆一) via Siliconera
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history