PIF’s Savvy to buy TikTok owner’s game studio for $6bn

Savvy Games Group, a games and esports company wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, will reportedly buy Moonton studio from China’s ByteDance.

The deal is valued at $6 billion, Bloomberg reported, quoting unidentified sources.

The transaction is likely to be “closed in the near future”, the report said, citing an internal memo from Moonton CEO Zhang Yunfan. 

Moonton management will remain in place with employees offered incentive programmes, he said. No further details were given.

The deal will support Savvy’s mobile games division and boost its esports expansion, the news agency reported, quoting Savvy CEO Brian Ward.

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, acquired Moonton for nearly $4 billion in 2021.

Savvy Games, founded in 2021, is a major investor in global video game companies, including Japan’s Nintendo. It agreed to acquire California-based Scopely, a mobile game developer, for $4.9 billion in 2023.

In September a group of investors led by PIF agreed to buy US video game developer Electronic Arts for $55 billion.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman laid out a SAR142 billion ($37.8 billion) strategy for Savvy Games Group in September 2022 to make the kingdom “the ultimate global hub for the games and esports sector by 2030”.

Further reading:

• PIF’s Savvy in talks to buy TikTok owner’s game studio
• PIF shifting $12bn gaming portfolio to Savvy
• Saudi gaming company courts giants of Japan and South Korea