Saudi Arabia invests $450 million to acquire a majority stake in Magic Leap

CTOnews.com, January 1, according to the Telegraph, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund controls augmented reality company Magic Leap for $450 million.

Saudi Arabia acquired more than 50 per cent of Magic Leap through the Public Investment Fund (PIF) Foundation. According to sources, "PIF is qualified to arrange four of the eight seats on the Magic Leap board of directors." Saudi Arabia injected $400m into Magic Leap in 2018.

Founded in 2010 by Ronnie Rony Abovitz, Magic Leap, which is headquartered in Florida, made a splash at the 2016 CES and eventually raised more than $4 billion from tech giants such as Google and China's Alibaba, as well as major investment banks such as telecom giant AT&T, chipmaker Qualcomm, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, and Hollywood.

Magic Leap's first prototype, the Magic Leap One, was launched in 2018 and sold for as much as $2300, but it didn't perform well. In April 2020, the company halved its workforce of about 2000. At the time, the company said it would restructure and give priority to selling products to enterprises.

Magic Leap 2 went on sale in September, with a smaller range, priced at $3299, mainly for corporate customers, which often use it to visualize design or construction work, or for medical professionals to plan surgeries.

CTOnews.com has learned that it will also exhibit eight AR products at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show, including immersive 3D conferencing applications and training software.