Gamemaker Is Now Warsaw’s Biggest Stock in New Virus World Order

(Bloomberg) -- CD Projekt SA has become the most valuable company on Warsaw’s stock exchange, dethroning the largest Polish bank as investors show a preference for the game developer in a world order shaken up by the coronavirus pandemic.

The studio whose medieval role-playing game The Witcher was recently turned into a hit TV series with Netflix Inc., is now valued at 27.6 billion zloty ($6.6 billion), exceeding the market capitalization of PKO Bank Polski SA for the first time.

While both stocks have suffered during the outbreak, CD Projekt has rebounded after pledging to wrap up work by September on its keenly awaited new title, Cyberpunk 2077. Traders have also put their faith in the gaming industry as an obvious winner as hundreds of millions of people around the world are ordered to stay at home.

PKO, a state-controlled lender with $83 billion in assets that celebrated its 100th birthday last year, is confronting uncertainty about the impact the health crisis will have on its loans. In a further deterrent to investors, Poland’s financial watchdog has banned banks from paying dividends to ensure they build up capital for the gathering headwinds.

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