Saudi Arabia: Video games RISE! Don’t waste my money
Plus, Google may launch its first product with Fitbit at its developer conference and Amazon is in talks to buy a film studio
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Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund doubled down on its investments in video-game makers as it raised holdings of U.S. stocks to $15.4 billion.
Why this matters: Prince Mohammed (the chair of the fund) likes video games - a lot. In the first quarter, the fund more than doubled its Activision Blizzard (ATVI) stake to 33.4 million shares and almost doubled its holding in Electronic Arts (EA), reaching 14.2 million shares at the end of March. It also bought more shares of Take-Two Interactive (TTWO). According to regulatory filings, that all came in at $6 billion - 39% of the total fund. (Yahoo Finance)
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Google I/O 2021 developer conference will feature new products and software
Google’s (GOOGL) annual I/O developer conference kicks off today with an all-virtual affair, streamed on the Google I/O website and YouTube.
Why this matters: Google typically uses I/O to showcase the next generation of its Android operating system but all eyes will be on the new wearable tech fans & investors hope the company announces. I/O 2021 will be Google’s first after its acquisition of Fitbit in January. This might mean we get a new smartwatch and an update on the already existing WearOS, the operating system behind Google-powered wearables. With Apple (AAPL) controlling 40% market share of the global smartwatch market, Google is going to have to work hard to catch up. (Yahoo Finance)
Amazon in talks to buy film studio MGM
Amazon (AMZN) is in discussions to acquire the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio, the Hollywood company behind the James Bond series.
Why this matters: Acquiring this studio will be Amazon’s biggest push into entertainment. This would help bolster Amazon’s Prime streaming service and could potentially be a valuable resource for producing their own content. This isn’t the first time there have been rumors of Amazon acquiring entertainment companies. There was speculation before of a possible buy-out of AMC Entertainment (AMC), the movie theatre chain. (Yahoo Finance)
What else are we reading?
Microsoft (MSFT) announced that their work chat app, Teams, is now available for general consumers.
Fisker (FSR) shares dropped 3% in after-hours trading after the electric vehicle start-up reported first-quarter earnings.
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That’s it from us today.
See you tomorrow.