Dyal HomeCourt Partners, the only private equity fund pre-approved by the NBA to invest in multiple franchises, is beginning a funding wave that signals a new era in the league.

HomeCourt will purchase less than 5% of the Phoenix Suns through Dyal Capital, a division of BlueOwl. The investment values the Suns at $1.55 billion — four times owner Robert Sarver’s initial investment in 2004.

The agreement was a few years in the making.

• The NBA sent a memo in March of 2019 to owners exploring “a new capital vehicle that could purchase passive, minority ownership interests across multiple NBA teams.”
• In May of 2020, the league reportedly courted Dyal to build a fund to acquire stakes in NBA teams. Dyal had $23 billion in assets at the time and looked to raise $2 billion for the fund. 
• In January, the NBA reportedly agreed that private equity firms and other investors may own up to 20% equity in a single franchise, but no more than five teams. No single franchise can have more than 30% of its equity owned by private equity firms.

The Golden State Warriors were the first NBA team approved to sell a piece of the team to a private equity firm (Arctos Sports Partners) for 5%. 

Dyal may have more investments in mind. The firm says it can invest in an unlimited number of NBA franchises — it had term sheets for six NBA teams in February. People familiar with the agreement say Dyal’s restrictions are broader than other firms. 

BlueOwl had roughly $52.5 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2021.

The top-selling video game console of the last two years has a new edition on the way. 

Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo Switch OLED, a long-rumored update to the very popular hardware.

The OLED version features a larger, brighter screen and 64GB of storage — double that of the regular Switch. The console can be played as a handheld device or projected onto a larger screen.

The Switch has been a massive success, even in the face of stiff competition from Microsoft and Sony.

• The Nintendo Switch debuted in 2017 and was the top-selling console every month from September 2019, when the Switch Lite was debuted, to at least May 2021. 
• Nintendo’s net sales grew 34.4% in the year ending March 31 to $15.9 billion, compared with the previous fiscal year.
• The Switch accounted for $15 billion, or 98%, of those sales. 

The new console comes out on Oct. 8, and will retail for $349, a bump up from the Switch’s price of $299 and the Switch Lite at $199.

Nintendo stock saw a 2.49% bump on Tuesday, closing the day at $75.29.

Tencent’s plan to merge China’s two most popular video game streaming sites — worth a combined $6 billion — is being blocked by China’s antitrust regulator, per Reuters.

The deal to merge Huya and DouYu is dissolving due to Tencent’s failure to meet the State Administration of Market Regulation’s requirements on relinquishing exclusive rights. 

Since last year, Tencent has faced antitrust concerns stemming from the company’s failure to report details of several investments and other anticompetitive practices. 

Merging Huya and DouYu would have allowed Tencent to streamline its stakes in the two companies and create its own video game live-streaming business. 

• Tencent is Huya’s largest shareholder with a 36.9% stake and owns over a third of DouYu. 
• The Chinese conglomerate would have held an 80% share of the market worth more than $3 billion, according to estimates by data firm MobTech.

In a separate deal, Tencent will be taking China’s No. 3 search engine Sogou private this month in a deal worth $3.5 billion, pending SAMR approval. 

The company will be paying a $76,000 fine to close the deal, due to its antitrust issues. 

Tencent reported $20.6 billion in revenue for Q1 2021, a 25% increase year-over-year. The strong quarter was driven by its mobile gaming business, which made up 32% of the company’s total revenue at $6.4 billion.