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Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund Increases Stake in Both Toei, Nintendo
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Reuters reported on Friday that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), chaired by the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has raised is stake in Toei Co., Ltd. from 5% to 6.03%.
Arab News also reported on February 17 that Public Investment Fund similarly raised its stake in Nintendo to 8.26%. PIF originally acquired a 5.01% stake in Nintendo in May 2022, and then raised that stake to 6.07% in January before this latest raise in February.
The PIF previously disclosed in February 2022 it purchased more than 5% in shares for Japanese developers CAPCOM and Nexon, and also has shares in other game developers and publishers, such as Koei Tecmo, Activision-Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two Interactive.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also founded the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation — also known as MiSK — which owns the Saudi Arabian media company Manga Productions. Manga Productions has previously collaborated with Toei Animation on a number of anime projects, including "The Woodcutter's Treasure" short, Future's Folktales, and The Journey. Electronic Gaming Development Company, another company under MiSK, announced in February 2022 that it now owns a 96.18% stake in Japanese game developer SNK.
In February 2021, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist who relocated to the United States and wrote for The Washington Post newspaper before being killed in 2018. The Saudi Arabian government "completely reject[ed]" the U.S. assessment. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also been criticized for pursuing a war in Yemen that caused a humanitarian disaster and for cracking down on dissenting voices. He has alternately been praised for ending a ban on women drivers in 2018.
