EXCLUSIVE-ByteDance in talks to sell gaming unit Moonton for more than $6 billion, sources say

By Yantoultra Ngui and Kane Wu

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, Feb 13 (Reuters) - ByteDance is in advanced talks to sell Shanghai Moonton Technology, the studio behind the popular mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, to Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group in a deal valued at between $6 billion and $7 billion, sources said.

A deal could be sealed as soon as this quarter, said one of the two sources, who have knowledge of the matter. The two companies have reached initial agreement on broad terms of the deal, said the second source.

The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

ByteDance, Moonton and Savvy Games did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Reuters is reporting the deal value and the timeline for the possible transaction for the first time.

The Moonton sale would add to the ongoing consolidation in the video game industry, as a number of major players race for IP dominance, more distribution channels and scale up in global markets.

The deal would mark ByteDance's major retreat from online games.

The social media group said in 2023 it had decided to restructure its gaming business after a review.

ByteDance bought Moonton in 2021 via its gaming unit Nuverse, with the deal valuing the studio at around $4 billion, Reuters reported at the time, as the TikTok owner tried to build an international games business to challenge bigger rivals.

Established in 2014, Moonton describes itself as a global video game company focused on game development, publishing and e-sports, according to its website.

It said it has more than 2,000 employees and operates offices in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Latin America and China.

On its official website, Moonton also said Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has over 1.5 billion installations and more than 110 million monthly active users, and ranks among the top 10 most played games in over 80 countries.

Savvy Games Group, owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, is a global games and e-sports company pursuing growth through acquisitions, investments and commercial ventures, its website showed.

It acquired Scopely, a maker of mobile games based in Culver City, California, for $4.9 billion in 2023. Scopely snapped up 'Pokemon Go' maker Niantic's game division in March for $3.5 billion.

The planned divestment of Moonton comes as ByteDance's valuation has soared in the past year.

ByteDance's first- and second-quarter 2025 revenues both topped those of Facebook and Instagram owner Meta META.O, making it the world's No. 1 social media company by sales, Reuters has reported.

ByteDance in the third quarter launched an employee share buyback at a valuation of more than $330 billion, up 5.5% from the previous buyback in March, sources have said.