Company Insights MBC Group Media & Advertising MBC Group Overview Founded in London in 1991 as the Middle East Broadcasting Centre, MBC Group is one of the biggest media conglomerates in the Middle East. In 2002, it relocated its headquarters to Dubai and then in 2022 it moved to Riyadh. It is majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and traded o the Tadawul. MBC runs more than 19 free-to-air satellite TV stations and the Shahid video-on-demand service. With broadcasts via the Eutelsat, Arabsat and Nilesat satellites, its main channel MBC 1 was the first in the Arab world to offer 24-hour satellite-based free-to-air programming. MBC Group also ventured into HD channels in 2011 and it partnered with Snapchat Discover in 2017. In 2023, 60 percent of MBC Group was held by Saudi Ministry of Finance subsidiary Istedamah Holding Company and 40 percent by founder Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim. Then in the same year it listed 10% of its share capital in an IPO. By late 2024, Istedamah’s stake reduced to 54%, later transferred to the Public Investment Fund. With more than 165 million viewers as of 2011, MBC Group plans to expand with initiatives including the premium production company MBC Studios and the MBC Academy. MBC Group News Business of Sport PIF’s $1bn Dazn deal creates new Mena sports streamer Surj Sports Investment, a unit of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has acquired a minority stake in UK-based global sports network Dazn. The deal, believed to be worth $1 billion, will establish new broadcasting joint venture Dazn Mena, which the companies say will broadcast live and on-demand sports from Saudi Arabia. The partnership will also […] February 18, 2025 Opinion Media & Advertising Television: Who watches the watchers? Saudi Arabia is taking a long-awaited step forward in audience measurement January 17, 2025 Media & Advertising PIF to acquire 54% stake in MBC Group for $2bn Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has agreed to acquire a 54 percent stake in MBC Group for SAR7.5 billion ($2 billion). The fund will buy Istedamah Holding Company’s entire stake through a private transaction priced at SAR41.60 per share, MBC Group said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange on Sunday. The transaction […] November 4, 2024 Markets Stock prices of Gulf companies surge after IPOs Most Gulf companies that completed initial public offerings (IPOs) recently have seen their market capitalisation soar, with issuers pricing flotations adroitly to bolster investor demand for their stocks after listing. From the start of 2023 there have been 20 Gulf IPOs that raised at least $100 million. Combined, these sold $11.2 billion of shares. As […] May 28, 2024 Markets Saudi Arabia dominates Mena Q1 public listings Saudi Arabia dominated public listings in the region in the first quarter of the year and maintains a “healthy pipeline” of IPOs for the remainder of 2024. Nine companies were brought to market in Saudi Arabia during the opening three months, according to the latest report from global consultants EY. The kingdom’s largest, and the […] May 10, 2024 Opinion Finance Strong regional deal growth underpinned by wealth funds Middle Eastern markets have remained resilient, due to supportive government policies May 8, 2024 People & Lifestyle Saudi director’s labour of love takes the kingdom to Cannes For the first time a Saudi film has been selected to compete in the Cannes film festival, catapulting its little-known self-taught director into the limelight. Tawfik Alzaidi was so surprised that he’d managed to break through to the big time that he kept the news that his film Norah had been accepted for the ‘Un […] April 26, 2024 Media & Advertising Streaming platform Shahid to drive growth, says MBC TV The Arabic TV network MBC says its new Shahid streaming platform will lead its growth after subscriptions grew 40 percent in 2023 to nearly four million. The Saudi-owned group recently completed an IPO on the Saudi stock exchange, requiring it to open its books to the public for the first time. It reported net profit […] April 4, 2024 Media & Advertising MBC Group buys stake in Anghami Shares of the Abu-Dhabi-based music streaming company Anghami rose by more than 80 percent this week after the release of a regulatory filing revealed that Saudi media company MBC Group has acquired a 14 percent stake. MBC Group, through its arm MBC Ventures, purchased four million ordinary shares of the Nasdaq-listed company. The purchase was […] March 22, 2024 Analysis Markets Tough IPO rules deter UAE tech startups from listing The UAE’s burgeoning startup sector has helped it become a centre for tech innovation, yet almost none of these fledgling companies have gone public due to stock market regulations. Since 2021 the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) have welcomed a flurry of initial public offerings as part-privatised government-related companies diversify […] February 19, 2024 Posts navigation 1 2 3 Next
Business of Sport PIF’s $1bn Dazn deal creates new Mena sports streamer Surj Sports Investment, a unit of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has acquired a minority stake in UK-based global sports network Dazn. The deal, believed to be worth $1 billion, will establish new broadcasting joint venture Dazn Mena, which the companies say will broadcast live and on-demand sports from Saudi Arabia. The partnership will also […] February 18, 2025
Opinion Media & Advertising Television: Who watches the watchers? Saudi Arabia is taking a long-awaited step forward in audience measurement January 17, 2025
Media & Advertising PIF to acquire 54% stake in MBC Group for $2bn Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has agreed to acquire a 54 percent stake in MBC Group for SAR7.5 billion ($2 billion). The fund will buy Istedamah Holding Company’s entire stake through a private transaction priced at SAR41.60 per share, MBC Group said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange on Sunday. The transaction […] November 4, 2024
Markets Stock prices of Gulf companies surge after IPOs Most Gulf companies that completed initial public offerings (IPOs) recently have seen their market capitalisation soar, with issuers pricing flotations adroitly to bolster investor demand for their stocks after listing. From the start of 2023 there have been 20 Gulf IPOs that raised at least $100 million. Combined, these sold $11.2 billion of shares. As […] May 28, 2024
Markets Saudi Arabia dominates Mena Q1 public listings Saudi Arabia dominated public listings in the region in the first quarter of the year and maintains a “healthy pipeline” of IPOs for the remainder of 2024. Nine companies were brought to market in Saudi Arabia during the opening three months, according to the latest report from global consultants EY. The kingdom’s largest, and the […] May 10, 2024
Opinion Finance Strong regional deal growth underpinned by wealth funds Middle Eastern markets have remained resilient, due to supportive government policies May 8, 2024
People & Lifestyle Saudi director’s labour of love takes the kingdom to Cannes For the first time a Saudi film has been selected to compete in the Cannes film festival, catapulting its little-known self-taught director into the limelight. Tawfik Alzaidi was so surprised that he’d managed to break through to the big time that he kept the news that his film Norah had been accepted for the ‘Un […] April 26, 2024
Media & Advertising Streaming platform Shahid to drive growth, says MBC TV The Arabic TV network MBC says its new Shahid streaming platform will lead its growth after subscriptions grew 40 percent in 2023 to nearly four million. The Saudi-owned group recently completed an IPO on the Saudi stock exchange, requiring it to open its books to the public for the first time. It reported net profit […] April 4, 2024
Media & Advertising MBC Group buys stake in Anghami Shares of the Abu-Dhabi-based music streaming company Anghami rose by more than 80 percent this week after the release of a regulatory filing revealed that Saudi media company MBC Group has acquired a 14 percent stake. MBC Group, through its arm MBC Ventures, purchased four million ordinary shares of the Nasdaq-listed company. The purchase was […] March 22, 2024
Analysis Markets Tough IPO rules deter UAE tech startups from listing The UAE’s burgeoning startup sector has helped it become a centre for tech innovation, yet almost none of these fledgling companies have gone public due to stock market regulations. Since 2021 the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) have welcomed a flurry of initial public offerings as part-privatised government-related companies diversify […] February 19, 2024
