FIVE BY CAPITALSA
SUNDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2026
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01 / GAMING
Good morning, friends.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund may be lining up another multibillion-dollar bet on video games. And it picked an interesting moment to do it.
Saudi investors are hunting for the next big tech opportunity. American investors are starting to ask what those opportunities are actually worth.
The Public Investment Fund and US buyout firm Silver Lake have held talks about buying Unity Software, whose tools are used to build thousands of video games, Reuters reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter.
They discussed a valuation of about $25 billion. Unity was worth roughly $21.5 billion after its latest earnings, and its shares jumped about 15% when the news broke.
Nothing is agreed yet: Unity is working with an investment bank to review its options, and the talks could still fall apart.
Familiar faces: PIF and Silver Lake closed their $55 billion takeover of Electronic Arts in August. Silver Lake already owns about 8% of Unity, and PIF’s Savvy Games Group has been working with Unity on game development in the Kingdom.
Why Unity is different: EA makes games. Unity makes the software studios use to build them, and the same tools show up in car design, film and other 3D work.
The interesting part: Unity is turning a corner. Third-quarter revenue rose 32% to $622 million, helped by its AI-powered advertising platform, and it booked its first quarterly profit under standard accounting since going public in 2020.
Why it matters: owning the tools as well as the games would give Saudi Arabia a stake in the workflow of almost every studio, including rivals. That widens the commercial opportunity, and the questions about independence and competition.
What to watch: whether the talks turn into a formal offer, and how a deal would be financed.
02 / MARKETS
The AI trade just got a reality check. US tech stocks plunged on Thursday as investors questioned whether the huge sums going into data centers will pay off.
The Nasdaq fell 5.5%, its worst day since April 2025. The S&P 500 dropped 4.4% and the Dow lost 3.4%.
Chips took the worst of it: Nvidia and Qualcomm both fell more than 9%, and Nvidia alone lost almost $450 billion in market value, CNBC reported. AMD, Micron and Applied Materials dropped by double digits.
What’s driving it: tech giants have committed enormous sums to data centers, chips and power. The spending comes now, while the revenue may take years. Rising interest rates and growing capital needs have made investors less patient.
The politics: Democrats won both houses of Congress in last week’s midterms. Investors worry that could mean tougher rules for data centers, from power use to water.
Why Saudi cares: the Kingdom is building its own AI infrastructure. Aramco agreed last week to buy 49% of Humain, PIF’s AI company, which is aiming for more than six gigawatts of data center capacity. Acwa is part of a $4 billion bet on US power plants for data centers.
Why it matters: demand for computing isn’t disappearing. But investors are getting pickier about what they’ll pay for growth. For Saudi players, building capacity is one challenge. Finding paying customers is the real test.
What to watch: whether tech stocks steady, and whether the selloff makes new AI projects harder to finance.
Read more:
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03 / ENERGY
Power and water developer Acwa delivered one of the stronger surprises of earnings season. Its third-quarter profit rose 71% to 635 million Riyal ($169 million), the company said in a filing on Thursday.
Revenue climbed 33% to about $590 million, and operating profit rose 88% to nearly $300 million.
Where it came from: bigger contributions from projects it co-owns, higher gross profit and lower overheads. Those more than covered higher financing costs and the expense of developing and buying new projects.
The calmer picture: over nine months, profit is up just 0.6% to $344 million. Revenue rose 16% to $1.7 billion, while operating profit fell 9%.
Why it matters: Acwa’s earnings swing with project milestones, partners’ results and borrowing costs, so one strong quarter doesn’t make a trend.
The US angle: last month, Acwa teamed up with US investor EIG on a power platform with about $4 billion of equity to buy and build American plants, as data centers lift electricity demand.
What to watch: whether the stronger quarters stick as Acwa funds a growing pipeline.
Read more:
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DATA POINT
$450 billion
That’s roughly how much market value Nvidia lost on Thursday alone, CNBC reported, as the AI selloff hit chipmakers hardest.
MARKET CLOSE · NOV 5
10,095.42 ▲ 0.56%
Tadawul All Share Index (TASI)
TOP GAINERS
Tawuniya
SR88.75 ▲ 9.98%
CGS
SR6.75 ▲ 9.93%
Sinad Holding
SR6.94 ▲ 6.28%
TOP LOSERS
Al Etihad Insurance
SR5.43 ▼ 7.34%
Savola Group
SR23.54 ▼ 5.65%
Petro Rabigh
SR14.55 ▼ 5.34%
04 / MARKETS
Saudi stocks rose for a second day on Thursday, before Wall Street’s rout. The TASI gained 0.56% to 10,095.42, staying above 10,000.
Insurers led: Tawuniya hit the 10% daily limit after its profit jumped 74% and beat forecasts. Maaden, Al Rajhi Bank and Sulaiman Al Habib did much of the lifting, Asharq Business reported.
The laggards: food group Savola fell 5.7% after its nine-month profit dropped 22%, and refiner Petro Rabigh slid 5.3% as oil fell during the Saudi session.
The week: the index rose 1.75%. Wednesday did most of the work, lifting it back above 10,000 after its lowest closes since 2021. It’s still down nearly 4% this year.
Why it matters: the market has struggled to hold 10,000 for weeks. Earnings are now doing more of the work, from banks to insurers, while petrochemicals remain mixed.
What to watch: today’s open, the first test after Thursday’s selloff in New York.
05 / OIL
Oil held its ground on Friday after a two-day rebound, as fresh tanker attacks kept a floor under prices. Brent settled at $98.32 a barrel, up 3 cents, and US crude rose 0.3% to $90.83.
It still wasn’t enough to save the week. Brent fell about 16%, its steepest weekly drop since 2020, after Wednesday’s plunge of more than 8% on bets that the US midterm results could speed up an end to the Iran war.
What changed: at least five vessels reported incidents in the Gulf last week, according to UK maritime agency UKMTO. October saw 35, the most in any month of the war.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said two tankers and a tugboat caught fire after using what it called unauthorized routes through the Strait of Hormuz. That hasn’t been independently confirmed.
The Saudi angle: Saudi Arabia issued alerts on Thursday warning of potential danger in Yanbu, its Red Sea oil export hub, as Yemen’s Houthis kept up attacks on the Kingdom. Yanbu is the outlet Aramco has leaned on to keep exports flowing away from Hormuz.
Why it matters: higher prices only help Saudi revenue if the barrels reach buyers. Freight, insurance and longer routes eat into the gain.
What to watch: more attacks, US-Iran diplomacy, and whether Brent can climb back above $100.
Read more:
THE WEEK AHEAD
What We’re Watching
Today / Markets. Saudi stocks reopen, the first test after Wall Street’s AI selloff.
Through 11 November / Pilgrims. Jeddah hosts the Hajj Conference and Exhibition, as planning for the 2027 season gets going.
Wednesday, 25 November / Dividend. Aramco pays its $21.9 billion base dividend.
Unity / Deals. Any formal offer from PIF and Silver Lake would be the pair’s second giant gaming buyout this year.
BEFORE YOU GO
Show Me the Returns
Saudi Arabia is making ever bigger bets on technology, gaming and infrastructure. Global markets are starting to ask harder questions about what those bets cost, and what they return.
That doesn’t break the investment case. It does mean capital, profit and execution now count for more than announcements.
Have a good week.
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