Electronic Arts will no longer be publicly traded. A group of investors led by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Jared Kushner, and Silver Lake has acquired the company for a record sum.
When Electronic Arts (EA) shareholders looked at the company’s share price on Friday, there were likely to have been some satisfied faces. The stock recorded double-digit gains compared to the previous week – but this was not due to the overall positive release of FC 26, but rather to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The daily newspaper had revealed explosive information that was confirmed on Monday: EA is being taken over by a consortium of private equity firms and is leaving the financial markets. The buyer in the negotiations is a group of several parties, including tech investor Silver Lake and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF, which already holds a 10 percent stake in EA.
Also involved is Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner with his investment firm Affinity Partners. A financially strong consortium that finalized the deal just a few days after the initial report.
On Monday, EA announced a purchase price of $55 billion – a good $5 billion more than the group’s last stock market valuation and a record: according to Reuters, never before has so much been paid for a company in a leveraged buyout, i.e., an externally financed takeover. EA itself refers to it as “the largest privatization in history.”
However, experts believe the high price is likely to pay off. “EA makes sense as an acquisition target,” says Wyatt Swanson, an analyst at financial advisory firm D.A. Davidson & Co., quoted in the magazine. “Cash flow is fairly consistent, and EA’s annual titles mean predictable income and profitability.”
For EA, meanwhile, the aim was to “accelerate innovation and growth to shape the future of the entertainment industry.” The three new partners are ideally suited to this endeavor. “Extensive industry experience, committed capital, and global portfolios with networks in gaming, entertainment, and sports,” Electronic Arts attests to the consortium.
However, from Reuters’ perspective, another goal may have been to deal with the changing conditions in the gaming market. This market is increasingly characterized by players weighing their spending. A takeover therefore means further consolidation of the industry, following similar moves by other major players.
Saudi Arabia steps up its game
From a gaming and eSports perspective, the PIF’s involvement is naturally attracting particular attention. As part of its “Saudi Vision 2030” initiative, Saudi Arabia has committed itself to becoming less dependent on fossil fuels. Instead, the desert state is investing heavily in technology, digitalization, and video games, and has been gradually gaining influence for years—for example, through the purchase of ESL and FACEIT, the launch of the Esports World Cup (EWC) in 2023, and the hosting of the Olympic Esports Games from 2027 onwards.
The larger investment in Electronic Arts underscores its role as a big player in the gaming market. It could also have a direct impact on esports. In the summer, the official FC World Cup took place for the first time as part of the Esports World Cup, after the final round had already been played in Riyadh in 2023 – before the first EWC was held in 2024. It is quite possible that the World Cup finals will only be held in the Saudi capital in the future, as EA is already a partner of the Esports Nations Cup, which will debut in 2026.
