While territorial rains continue to take lives in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) continues to spend heavy amounts of money on international entertainment and sports events.
The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, recently purchased a large stake in Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest live-entertainment company.
Public Investment disclosed that it owned a 6% stake in the company, a total of 12.3 million shares valued at approximately $500 million.
The Kingdom also hosted several international sports events and financed others, such as LIV Golf, which is 93% owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
MBC Group, a Saudi media conglomerate, is 60% owned by the Saudi government. The company also operates the public entertainment broadcasting service Shahid, which is claimed to have a larger number of subscribers in the region than Netflix.
Last January, Vice Media finalized a deal with a Saudi Arabia-backed media giant to bring Arabic-language content to the Middle East, MBC. Vice announced it was exploring a deal in September that could be worth $50 million.
MBC Group has also invested $248.81 million in Antenna Greece BV, the indirect parent company of Antenna TV and Macedonia TV.
Antenna Group is a privately-owned international technology, media, and entertainment company with a presence in Central & Eastern Europe.
MBC Group now owns 30% of the voting shares, whereas Antenna Group retains 70% control of the respective holding company.
Last January, Vice Media finalized a deal with a Saudi Arabia-backed media giant to bring Arabic-language content to the Middle East, MBC. Vice announced it was exploring a deal in September that could be worth $50 million.
MBC Group has also invested $248.81m in Antenna Greece BV, the indirect parent company of Antenna TV and Makedonia TV.
Antenna Group is a privately-owned international technology, media and entertainment company with a presence in Central & Eastern Europe.
MBC Group now owns 30% of the voting shares, whereas the Antenna Group retains 70% control of the respective holding company.
Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG) (also known as the Saudi Media Group) is a Saudi joint stock company registered in Riyadh. The group mainly publishes, prints and distributes various publications.
The company has close ties to the Mohammed bin Salman government in Saudi Arabia. It is chaired by Jumana Al-Rashed, who also heads the Foundation for the Red Sea International Film Festival, and backs Johnny Depp Movie ‘Jeanne Du Barry’.
The 2022 Red Sea Film Festival opening night attracted a huge array of big names including haron Stone, Bruno Mars and Luca Guadagnino.
Well-informed sources recently confirmed that Saudi Arabia’s MBS would buy the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., for $9 billion.
In 2018, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Sport Authority (GSA), Turki al-Sheikh, signed an exclusive 10-year contract with the WWE to hold wrestling competitions in the kingdom, propped up by billion-dollar TV deals.
As part of his attempts to boost his image worldwide, MBS is looking to invest billions of dollars into Hollywood movies and entertainment.
Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund is poised to launch a new $233m ($879m Saudi Riyal) film industry financing program in the first quarter of 2023, which will be open to both local and international entities.
According to the sources, the move was part of a wider strategy to open up the country and move its economy away from a reliance on oil. Other key supports include a 40% rebate for production.
Riyadh is now seeing more than $64 billion in entertainment investment, with a significant proportion of that going to the live music industry.
MBS was widely named as the “Gamer Prince” after hosting the international eSport gamers forum “Next World” this month.
Much like with Formula One and professional golf, the world’s biggest oil exporter has in recent years leveraged its immense wealth to assert itself on the eSports stage, hosting glitzy conferences and snapping up established tournament organisers.
The shocking reports on MBS’s huge spending on film making have drowned sharp criticism among Saudis.
