According to a new filing, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in multiple US enterprises, around $7.5 Billion. With such investments, the Gulf kingdom continues to seek economic diversification vigorously. At the conclusion of the second quarter, the market value of the sovereign fund’s investment portfolio was $40.8 billion.
According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased 213,000 class A shares in Alphabet, 4.7 million class A shares in Zoom, and 1.8 million shares in Microsoft, as shown by an US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The fund revealed the following holdings via stock shares – $464 million in Alphabet, which owns Google; $432 million in Amazon; $451 million in the controversial investment firm Blackrock; $433 million in; JPMorgan Chase; $474 million in Meta, which owns Facebook; $473 million in Microsoft; $492 million in PayPal; $482 million in Starbucks; $1.4 billion in video game developer Take-Two Interactive; $1.5 billion in Uber; and $96 million in Walmart.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in charge of the Public Investment Fund, which is driving the kingdom’s attempts to diversify and lessen its reliance on oil. Many of the aforementioned investments are in businesses in which the PIF has previously expressed interest, such as video gaming. Earlier this year, the firm took a 5% interest in Nintendo, the Japanese video game company. The PIF announced the formation of a competitive video games division in January.
Some of the enterprises were previously held by the fund. According to the business news source Zawya, it formerly owned 418,000 shares in Meta and now owns 2.9 million shares. In general, state agencies in Saudi Arabia prioritise investment in futuristic technology.
Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, revealed a significant investment in blockchain technology in February. Aramco committed to funding an artificial intelligence facility in the kingdom in April. However, oil remains a significant aspect of the Saudi economy. Aramco announced a record $48 billion in second-quarter profits this week, despite historically high oil prices this year.
