Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the oil-rich country's sovereign wealth fund, has sold its entire stake in Live Nation, according to an SEC filing dated Thursday (November 14).
In April 2020, the $925 billion PIF acquired approximately 12.5 million shares amounting to a 5.7% stake in Live Nation, making it the fourth largest shareholder behind Liberty Media, Vanguard Group and BlackRock. The investment, made through open-market share purchases, drew attention in part because the country's government was still under fire for the 2019 killing of journalist Jamal Khanshoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
April 2020 was a period of market turmoil as the COVID-19 pandemic led countries to close businesses and limit person-to-person contact. It was also a good time to put money into stocks. Speaking at an online investment forum that month, the PIF director HE Yasir Al-Rumayyan he explained that the fund was focused on travel, energy and entertainment – all sectors suffering from a slowdown in consumer spending and restrictions on personal and business travel.
In addition to investing in Live Nation, PIF also bought stakes in other companies that suffered during the pandemic but bounced back in subsequent years, including cruise line Carnival, Walt Disney, Marriott International, online travel company Booking Holdings, transport companies Union Pacific and Boeing, and energy companies BP, Total and Equinor.
Live Nation turned out to be a good investment for PIF. The company's stock closed at $38 the day before PIF disclosed its investment, down from around $75 two months earlier. Concerns about the pandemic had already weighed on the stock before Live Nation suspended its tours on March 12, 2020, but the company's share price rose steadily from there, reaching $75 before the end of 2020 and closing above $100 in October 2021.
The SEC filing did not say when PIF sold its shares, but Wednesday's closing price of $127.02 would represent a gain of about 213% in the four and a half years since it bought them.
