ByteDance sells its gaming company for over $6 billion

Reporter Wu Zhi from Securities Times

ByteDance’s major gaming asset confirms sale. On March 20, Shanghai Mutuang Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Mutuang Technology”) CEO Zhang Yunfan issued an internal letter announcing that the company recently signed an agreement with Savvy Games Group (hereinafter referred to as “Savvy”), and the two parties will complete the transaction over a period of time. After the deal is finalized, Mutuang Technology will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Savvy.

Mutuang Technology is a core asset in ByteDance’s gaming division. In March 2021, ByteDance’s gaming brand Chao Xi Guang Nian acquired Mutuang Technology. Reports indicated that the transaction was valued at approximately $4 billion at the time. Since joining ByteDance, Mutuang Technology’s overall business has remained stable, with some blockbuster products achieving long-term operation.

However, since last year, there have been multiple reports suggesting Mutuang Technology might be sold. It is understood that ByteDance is selling Mutuang Technology for over $6 billion, exceeding the purchase price in 2021.

After the transaction, Mutuang’s management structure will remain unchanged, and it will still be headquartered in Shanghai. Zhang Yunfan will continue to serve as CEO, leading the management team to drive the company’s future development. Zhang Yunfan also mentioned that, upon completion of the deal, the company will offer multiple incentive plans for employees based on past performance contributions, including accelerating the vesting and issuance of some long-term incentives granted previously. Additionally, new attractive incentive schemes will be introduced based on future performance.

Founded in 2014, Mutuang Technology is headquartered in Shanghai with branches in Singapore, Peru, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and other locations. Since its inception, the company has focused on developing globalized mobile games. It has launched several highly recognized mobile games overseas and is among the earliest Chinese companies dedicated to game internationalization, also one of the Chinese gaming companies with the largest overseas user base.

According to the third-party agency Sensor Tower’s February 2026 global revenue ranking of Chinese mobile game publishers, Mutuang Technology ranked 13th.

The company’s core product is “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang,” launched in 2016. According to company disclosures, by the end of 2024, the game’s monthly active users exceeded 110 million, with over 1.5 billion downloads worldwide. Data from Sensor Tower shows that in February this year, “Mobile Legends” ranked fourth among Chinese mobile games exported overseas in terms of downloads.

It is understood that Savvy is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Prior to acquiring Mutuang Technology, Savvy had participated multiple times in investments or acquisitions of domestic gaming companies.

Public information shows that in February 2023, Savvy announced an investment of 1.8 billion yuan in the domestic esports company Hero Sports VSPO. In December 2024, Perfect World and its wholly owned subsidiary Shanghai Perfect World Software Co., Ltd. signed an asset purchase agreement with Scopely, Inc., a subsidiary of Savvy.

(Editors: Wang Zhiqiang HF013)

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