Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
The Saudi Arabian government has made another major investment into Electronic Arts, buying up more stock and increasing its stake in the company. The latest investment in games from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), this latest stake gives Saudi Arabia a 10 percent stake in Electronic Arts overall.
The Saudi Arabian PIF stake increase in Electronic Arts was spotted in a recent SEC Filing, as reported by Seeking Alpha. Reportedly, in Q4 2022, the PIF bought up 8.8 million shares of EA stock, raising its overall share holdings from 16.01 million to 24.81 million. That’s enough to constitute a 10 percent stake in ownership of Electronic Arts overall. The PIF also grabbed further shares in Activision Blizzard, Take-Two, PayPal, and Adobe.
The Saudi Arabian government has been aggressive in its gathering of shares in gaming, entertainment, and tech markets through the Public Investment Fund backed by the Saudi royal family. The fund aims to diversify the region away from oil and deeper into tech and entertainment. That has included building a 7 percent stake in Nintendo, an 8 percent stake in Embracer Group (which presides over publishers like THQ Nordic), and quite a bit more.
With the Saudi PIF already claiming it was putting $13 billion aside to acquire a major gaming dev late in 2022, we’re sure we haven’t seen the last of major investments out of the fund. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates.