Saudi Arabia Now Owns 96% Of SNK, it all started in November 2020, when Saudi Arabia invested nearly 200 million euros in the Company. EGDC first acquired a 33.3% stake in SNK in November 2020 when it announced plans to buy more shares. The hefty investment, more than triple EGDC’s previous investment, resulted in the company acquiring a 28.8% stake in Japanese developer SNK from Hong Kong shareholder Zuikaku Co., Limited in late 2020. Video Game Development Corporation (EGDC), a subsidiary of a fund managed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, now owns Japanese developer SNK after a major investment of 96.18% of the shares.
Saudi Arabia’s Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC), owned by the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation (MiSK), now almost wholly owns Japanese game developer SNK, having acquired a 96.18% stake in the company. The financial deal reported by VGC confirms that the Electronic Gaming Development Company now owns 96% of the Japanese game developer, meaning that bin Salman now effectively owns the game developers King of Fighters, Metal Slug, and Samurai Shodown.
SNK may be the biggest option in terms of control, but the video game development company has committed to invest $332 million in Capcom and more than $600 million in Nexon to jointly acquire a 5% stake in each publisher/developer. Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two have invested more than $3 billion. The investor announcement follows MiSK’s “strategic investment” in SNK in November 2020, with MiSK acquiring a 33% stake in SNK with a 51% option for future controlling stakes, but it looks like they eventually want to split a cup of soup. This seems to be anecdotal, especially since SNK is no longer in the spotlight, and the company even lost 8 million euros last year.
Looks like EGDC (the company owned by Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman) bought 96% of the company (previous stake 33%) in February, like a day after KOFXV came out.
It's still listed on the KR stock exchange, maybe that's the remaining 3.82%?
per SNK: https://t.co/lvdEM8mgk2 pic.twitter.com/hd4HBi4oxZ
— Smokage of the Burning Leaf ? (@pattheflip) April 5, 2022
Under the one-time acquisition of SNK, the money transactions are handled by a Saudi Arabian digital game development company, the sole owner and shareholder of which is Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Like many operations operated by a Saudi Arabian politician, these purchases are part of the Saudi Vision 2030 strategy developed during her coming to power, which, on paper, should diversify the economy (almost exclusively oil) of the kingdom. While SNK may seem like an odd target, the acquisition is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a strategy to diversify the country’s economy by the end of the decade with a partial focus on the entertainment and gaming sectors.
Saudi Arabia is known for being a brutal political regime with opponents of Saudi Arabia, although its leaders have been trying to soften the international opinion of it for several years, for example by giving more freedom to women.
