Saudi Arabia has acquired a stake of 5.01 per cent in gaming giant Nintendo, with the Japanese company finding out about the purchase via news reports.
The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund – said to be worth close to £500 billion, and the lead investor in the consortium that bought Newcastle Football Club late last year – has already put money behind two other Japanese gaming firms, Nexon and Camcom.
Their new 5 per cent share in Nintendo makes them the fifth-largest shareholder in the Kyoto based company.
Nintendo is a publicly traded company in Japan, meaning Nintendo has no control over who invests. A spokesman for the company said they would not comment on the Saudi PIF purchase, or any other individual shareholders.
When reporting their financial reports last week, Nintendo’s numbers were low. Their projected full-year income was below the estimates of analysts, as was – just – the projected number of Nintendo Switch consoles sold. The developers, best known as the creators of Super Mario and their various game consoles, have struggled to revitalise the now five-year-old Switch, on top of managing a global chip shortage. Nonetheless, Nintendo shares have climbed about 10% this year.
