[UPDATE] ByteDance and Savvy Games have now confirmed the deal for Moonton, which is the No. 6 largest buyout in the history of video games, valued at more than $6 billion USD. ByteDance paid $4 billion for Moonton in 2021, so it made a quick $2 billion on the deal.
Moonton CEO Zhang Yunfan will remain CEO when the deal closes, and that’s expected to happen in the coming months, Savvy told SCMP.
The original story is below.
A new report claims that TikTok owner ByteDance is in “advanced talks” to sell its subsidiary Moonton Technology to Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group. The deal is estimated to be valued at between $6 billion and $7 billion, according to a report from Reuters.
ByteDance paid $4 billion in 2021 to buy Moonton, so that would be quite a return for the company. At $6 billion, Savvy buying Moonton would be the No. 6 biggest acquisition in the history of video games.
Reuters said ByteDance and Savvy have agreed on “broad terms” for the deal, and that a deal could be formalized by the end of March.
Moonton’s biggest game is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which has reached more than 1.5 billion installs and claims to have more than 110 million monthly active users.
Savvy Games Group has been making moves in recent years. In 2023, the company bought Monopoly Go developer Scopely for $4.9 billion. In 2025, it paid $3.5 billion to buy Niantic’s gaming division, including Pokemon Go.
In other buyout news, EA is in the process of being acquired by an investor consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for $55 billion. For more, check out the gallery below to see the top 12 biggest gaming buyouts ever.