Saudi wealth fund loads up on video-game makers

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund doubled down on its pandemic-era investments in videogame makers and added new bets as it raised holdings of US stocks by about a fifth to $15.4 billion while exiting oil shares.

The Public Investment Fund brought its total commitment to videogame makers, including Activision Blizzard Inc, Electronic Arts Inc and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc to $6 billion during the first quarter, according to regulatory filings. Those holdings were valued at $3.3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

The PIF also added to its roster by buying $141 million worth of stock in South Korean e-commerce

Saudi wealth fund is bolstering its investment in the US video-game industry

0.9 Materials 39.0 Video

3.7 Technology games

13.7 Other

16.5 Consumer discretionary

Figures in %

26.0 Uber

giant Coupang Inc, whose biggest backer is Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp.

Another new investment last quarter included Compute Health Acquisition Corp, a blankcheck company set up by Intel Corp chairman Omar Ishrak, with the PIF buying a 8.7 per cent stake for $75.7 million. The fund exited its stake in Suncor Energy Inc, Canada's top integrated oil producer, selling 51 million shares.

The $400-billion PIF is funded through a mixture of borrowing, cash and asset transfers from the government, and retained earnings from its investments. Chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and managed by governor Yasir Al Rumayyan, the fund has outlined a plan to grow its assets to over 4 trillion riyals ($1.1 trillion) by 2025.

As the PIF is positioning itself to power the local economy, it's also made several high-profile investments in recent years, including a stake in Uber Technologies Inc and big commitments to Softbank's Vision Fund.

The Riyadh-based fund acquired more than $3 billion worth of stock in the three US video-game makers for the first time during the fourth quarter. By contrast, its exposure to US equities in the third quarter fell by $3 billion, mainly because the PIF sold stakes in exchangetraded funds that track the real estate and materials sectors.

Prince Mohammed is a big fan of video games, particularly "Call of Duty," Activision's best-selling franchise. He told Bloomberg Businessweek in 2016 that he was part of the first Saudi generation to grow up with the gaming technology.

In the first quarter, the fund more than doubled its Activision Blizzard stake to 33.4 million shares and almost doubled its holding in Electronic Arts, reaching 14.2 million shares at the end of March.