Saudi Arabia’s PIF Adds to Games Push With 5% Nintendo Stake

Gareth Allan and Takashi Mochizuki, Bloomberg News

CHIBA, JAPAN - SEPTEMBER 21: The logo of Nintendo Co.'s Switch video game console is displayed in the Capcom Co. booth during the Tokyo Game Show 2017 at Makuhari Messe on September 21, 2017 in Chiba, Japan. The annual game show, which features games from 345 exhibitors for various platforms from game consoles to mobile phones, takes place September 21-24 and will feature eSports. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images) Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images AsiaPac , Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images AsiaPac

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund reported a 5.01% stake in Nintendo Co., according to a filing to Japan’s Finance Ministry, adding to investments in the country’s games industry.

The filing shows the purchase was made for investment purposes. The 5.01% holding would make PIF Nintendo’s fifth-largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Kyoto-based company reported lackluster financial results last week as the creator of Super Mario struggles to revitalize its five-year-old Switch console and manage a global chip shortage. The company projected full-year operating income below analysts’ estimates and said it’s expecting to sell 21 million Switch devices this year, shy of the 21.7 million anticipated.

The PIF, as the $500 billion fund is known, has been building stakes in video game makers and e-sports over the past two years. The Public Investment Fund has disclosed stakes of more than 5% in two Japan-listed gaming firms: Capcom Co., the maker of the Street Fighter and Resident Evil franchises, and online games provider Nexon Co.

Japan’s gaming companies have been the subject of speculation amid a broader wave of consolidation in the videogames industry, ever since Microsoft Corp. announced the $69 billion Activision Blizzard Inc. purchase. Sony Group Corp. is also buying Bungie Inc., the U.S. video game developer behind the popular Destiny and Halo franchises, for $3.6 billion.

Saudi Wealth Fund Reveals Stake in Capcom, Following Nexon (1)