Saudi PIF shifts $12 billion in gaming investments to Savvy
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has moved to consolidate its expansive gaming investments, shifting about $12 billion worth of shares, including its stake in Nintendo, to its Savvy Games subsidiary.
Savvy, which was created in 2021 with a cash stockpile of $38 billion, is the backbone of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to dominate global gaming.
The move to bring more of the PIF’s gaming investments under one roof indicates a desire to further elevate Savvy’s status in the industry.
“These transfers will move the stewardship of PIF’s games investments to Savvy, given Savvy is a leading games organization for the PIF and a core component of the National Gaming and Esports Strategy,” Amar Batkhuu, a Savvy spokesperson, told Bloomberg, noting that the transfer has been planned for a long time.
Savvy’s investments include Niantic, the developer of mobile hit “Pokemon Go” and “Monopoly Go” developer Scopely Inc., as well as several esports plays, which have had mixed success.
Most recently, it has been in talks with TikTok owner ByteDance to buy its Shanghai Moonton Technology unit, one of the world’s most popular mobile developers.
The company’s success was somewhat overshadowed last year by the PIF’s own blockbuster deal to take gaming titan Electronic Arts private in a $50 billion leveraged buyout backed by private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.
Saudi Arabia invests to turn young generation into sports fans
Saudi Arabia is working to engage its sports fans from the bottom up.
As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pours billions of dollars into international golf, tennis and football, Danny Townsend, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s SURJ Sports Investments, says it’s vital to get the young generation hooked early in their lives.
“Frankly, I care far more about engaging a 10-year-old in a sport we invest in than engaging someone my age,” Townsend said in a panel discussion about sports at the Milken Summit. “If we get the product right and deliver it the right way for that young fan, the long-term value follows.”
Ben Harburg, the American investor who founded MSA Capital and bought Saudi Arabia’s Al-Kholood pro soccer club in July, said he’s constantly amazed by the dedication of local fans.
“I’ve had fans come up to me at matches with printed A4 pages – line-by-line recommendations on how we should compete in the league, which players to pursue, what style of play to adopt, even preferred formations,” Harburg said.
Saudi Arabia’s Savvy eyes next big move with ByteDance talks
Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, fresh off a $55 billion takeover of Electronic Arts, is getting ready for its next blockbuster deal.
The PIF-backed firm, centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s strategy for dominance in the global gaming market, is in talks with TikTok owner ByteDance to buy its Shanghai Moonton Technology unit, Bloomberg reports.
Along with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Savvy was backed by investors Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners on the EA deal.
If Savvy succeeds in buying Moonton, the acquisition would add one of the world’s most popular mobile developers – creator of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – to a portfolio that already includes some of gaming’s biggest console and PC properties.
Extending control from popular titles to fast-growing mobile hits could help Saudi Arabia influence how and what billions of gamers play. Bloomberg notes, however, that negotiations are still at an early stage, and as with an earlier failed attempt, the deal could unravel again.
Trump okays F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia in prelude to MBS summit
Even before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman touched down earlier today with an entourage of 1,000 on his first visit to the U.S. in seven years, U.S. President Donald Trump was playing dealmaker.
Bucking opposition in Congress for one of the most controversial items on the agenda when the two leaders meet at the White House, Trump said the sale to Saudi Arabia of a fleet of F-35 stealth fighter jets for roughly $4 billion was practically in the bag.
“They want to buy it, they’ve been a great ally,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, adding, “Yeah, I will say that we will be doing that. We’ll be selling F-35s.”
Virtually every member of the Saudi cabinet, senior officials from the Public Investment Fund and CEOs from state-owned companies will be among those accompanying Prince Mohammed as part of a delegation Al-Arabiya said would total about 1,000. A more exclusive black-tie dinner is being arranged in the White House East Room for tonight.
Among the business leaders will be Tareq Amin, CEO of state-backed Humain, who is pitching Silicon Valley companies on the kingdom as a major source of AI computing power and is visiting the White House to seek U.S. approval for access to advanced American chips, Bloomberg reports.
Humain is central to Saudi plans to build large-scale AI infrastructure as the country aims to become one of the world’s largest exporters of computing resources.
On Wednesday, the two countries are organizing a Saudi-American investment forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington, where both leaders are expected to appear, similar to the conference Saudi Arabia sponsored in May when Trump visited the kingdom. This week’s event is being organized by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment and the U.S.-Saudi Business Council.
Saudi Arabia passes Pentagon hurdle in campaign to buy F35s
Saudi Arabia’s quest to buy as many as 48 F-35 stealth fighter jets from Lockheed Martin is picking up traction amid White House preparations for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Nov. 18 visit to the White House.
On its way to final approval, the deal cleared a critical hurdle when it recently received a green light from the Pentagon, Reuters reports. U.S. officials noted that the proposed sale still must be fully confirmed by the Trump administration with a formal notification to Congress.
Before delivery of the world’s most advanced fighter jets can be made to the Gulf kingdom, lawmakers have the authority to block or amend the deal, which is expected to draw scrutiny given regional sensitivities and human rights concerns.
Saudi Arabia has sought the F-35s as part of a broader effort to modernize its armed forces and replace aging aircraft. The request comes amid shifting regional alliances and increasing security coordination between Washington and the Gulf states, including the UAE and Qatar.
The F-35 boasts stealth capabilities that reduce radar visibility, though any Gulf sale would likely involve modifications or restrictions because U.S. policy requires that Israel, which first purchased the F35s in 2016, retain a “qualitative military edge” in the region, according to Reuters.
Saudi Arabia freezes home rents for 5 years, citing steep increases
Saudi Arabia has ordered a five-year freeze on rent increases for residential and commercial properties in Riyadh, effective immediately, citing a steep rise in housing costs.
The decree, issued by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, requires that rents for vacant units be capped at their last registered amount.
Under the new measures, landlords found violating the freeze could face fines up to a full year’s rent, and whistleblowers may be eligible for 20% of collected fines.
The freeze comes amid government concern about the impact of rising Saudi real estate values on cost of living in the capital, Bloomberg reports.
According to government data, private home rents jumped 13.9% and apartment rents 6.9% year-over-year in the second quarter.
High house prices and rents are undermining affordability, so much so that the Riyadh market saw a slowdown in deals for the first time in years in the first half of 2025, according to London-based consulting firm Knight Frank
Saudi Crown Prince hails foreign investors, pledges housing relief
In a rare national address, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman walked a tight line on Wednesday night between preaching the need to attract foreign investment and acknowledging the strain it has put on the kingdom’s housing supply.
“Perhaps the fact that 660 international companies have chosen the Kingdom as their regional headquarters, exceeding the 2030 target, reflects the achievements in infrastructure and the level of technical services, confirming the strength of the Saudi economy and its broad future prospects,” the Crown Prince said in his annual speech to the opening session of the Shura Council, Saudi Arabia’s consultative body that advises the Royal Court on draft laws and policy.
“All of this, and other achievements, have made the Kingdom a global hub attracting diverse activities,” he said, in comments published by Arab News.
The Crown Prince said the state recognized that strong public finances, which are “not reliant on a single, volatile source of revenue,” were essential for development and sustainable diversification.
He also gave a nod to rising concerns about housing affordability, admitting that property prices in some areas had reached “unacceptable levels” and vowing to take measures to reduce costs and increase the range of housing options available, Bloomberg reports.
An influx of demand from new residents has seen home prices in Riyadh nearly double since 2019, while prices are also rising in the holy cities of Medina and Mecca, which were opened up to foreign investment via publicly-traded companies in February.
Despite the tight market, foreigners will be allowed to own property in designated zones in Riyadh and Jeddah starting next year under a new law that was approved in July. The move will make the cities more competitive with cosmopolitan neighbors Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, where housing markets are booming amid an influx of foreign buyers.
Clinton recommends investing in Saudi real estate at Riyadh forum
Developers of New Murabba, Neom, Diriyah and other multibillion-dollar construction projects across Saudi Arabia occupied center stage this week at the Real Estate Future Forum in Riyadh.
Until former U.S. President Bill Clinton mounted the podium Wednesday night at the Four Seasons.
Praising Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan that set off a torrent of building activity across the kingdom, Clinton told a packed ballroom, “It’s worth investing in.”
The 78-year-old statesman, who met with MBS earlier in the day, added: “I think that we Americans should come here and study this 2030 plan and ask ourselves what is our equivalent,” Arab News reports.
Clinton capped the final day of the conference in Saudi Arabia’s capital, where the cube-shapped New Murabba development promises to be the “most complex structure known to man or woman,” the project’s CEO Michael Dyke told a conference panel.
“We will have something like two to three Empire State Buildings on each corner, which anchor the four corners of Mukaab,” Dyke said. At the center will be a residential tower the size of the Eiffel Tower “that will be the only skyscraper in the world that lives inside another building.”
“Below the ground is enormous as well,” he said, adding, “It’s a complete cavernous labyrinth of various different asset classes” with retail space “the size of Dubai Mall that will be capable of extending to be bigger.”
MBS holds $600 billion call with Trump as new term begins
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and U.S. President Donald Trump are picking up where they left off four years ago.
After congratulating Trump on his return to Washington in a phone call on Wednesday, Prince Mohammed, who is also Prime Minister, said he’s willing to boost investment and trade with the U.S. by $600 billion through 2028.
The Saudi kingdom hopes to participate in the new U.S. administration’s “ability to create unprecedented economic prosperity and opportunity,” the Crown Prince said in the SPA dispatch.
Trump responded on Thursday during a virtual address to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“I’ll be asking the Crown Prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion,” Trump said, adding, “I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.”
Trump, appearing on screen from the White House during his 15-minute speech, took questions afterward from a panel in Davos that included Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne and Banco Santander Chair Ana Botin.
Trump forged a close relationship with the heir to the Saudi throne during his first term and said he selected the kingdom for his first overseas trip as president in 2017 because of its commitment to buy U.S. weapons and other goods.
Shortly after his inauguration on Monday, Trump told reporters he’d consider visiting Saudi Arabia again if it would agree to buy “another $450 billion or $500 billion” worth of U.S. products.
Even before he stood inside the Capitol this week to take the oath of office, Trump made clear that the Gulf’s power players will find a friend in the White House.
Damac Group CEO Hussain Sajwani for one. The billionaire Dubai builder turned up a week into the new year at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., where he stood beside the President-elect and pledged an investment of at least $20 billion to build new data centers across the U.S.
Sajwani, who has described himself in press releases as “Trump’s Middle Eastern business partner,” said Damac would move ahead with the plan “if the opportunity, the market, allows us.”
The relationship between the two men dates back a decade when Trump and Sajwani teamed up to develop luxury golf courses in Dubai. Trump said the massive investment in data centers will “keep America on the cutting edge of technology and artificial intelligence.”
A second Gulf financial chieftain who has been circulating around Trump since his election in November is Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund.
Al-Rumayyan is also Chairman of LIV Golf, the upstart PIF-owned tournament that first challenged and now may merge with the PGA.
The new league, which poached some of the PGA’s top stars with contracts of as much as $200 million, announced Tuesday that it would hold a tournament in April at the Trump National Doral resort near Miami for the fourth consecutive year.
Saudi Arabia wins nod to host soccer’s World Cup in 2034
Saudi Arabia has 10 years to prepare for its stint as the epicenter of global sports when the kingdom hosts soccer’s 2034 World Cup.
Gathered in an online meeting on Wednesday convened by governing body FIFA, representatives of 200 national soccer federations gave their approval to Saudi Arabia, which was uncontested in its bid for hosting the world’s most-watched sporting event, the Associated Press reports.
“We look forward to hosting an exceptional and unprecedented edition of the FIFA World Cup by harnessing our strengths and capabilities to bring joy to football fans around the world,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on projects related to the World Cup, including one of the stadiums built 350 meters above the ground in NEOM. Another stadium named for the Crown Prince will be atop a cliff in Riyadh’s Qiddiya sports and entertainment development.
Much like Qatar’s experience hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Saudi Arabia will be subject to intense scrutiny of its human rights record, including the treatment of women and migrant workers.
