- M&A
- September 30, 2025
- 4 minutes read
Video Game Maker EA To Go Private In $55B Deal
Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) has agreed to be acquired by a trio of investment firms: Saudi Arabia’s Public…
Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) has agreed to be acquired by a trio of investment firms: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), tech-focused private equity giant Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, an upstart private equity firm founded by Jared Kushner. The deal values EA at $55bn, marking the largest-ever leveraged buyout by absolute value.
- EA (NASDAQ: EA) shareholders will receive $210 in cash per share, a 25% premium to EA’s share price prior to reports of an imminent deal.
Before the deal, PIF, a sovereign wealth fund of the Saudi Arabian government, already owned 9.9% of EA’s shares. It will provide the lion’s share of the funds to acquire the remaining EA shares, followed by Silver Lake, then Affinity Partners with a minor 5% stake. The three firms will invest $36bn in equity funding and raise $20bn in debt financing, solely from banking giant JPMorgan Chase, to complete the deal.
- At a $55bn value, EA will be the largest leveraged buyout deal in history, beating the existing record holder of KKR-TPG’s $45bn acquisition of energy giant TXU Corp in 2007. However, when dollars are adjusted for inflation, TXU Corp’s buyout comes out on top.
EA is behind many best-selling video game titles, including the EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) football game franchise, The Sims, Need for Speed, Madden NFL, and Battlefield, among others. It reported a $1.1bn net profit on $7.5bn in revenue in its last fiscal year ended March 2025.
EA saw substantial revenue growth from 2015 to 2023, but revenue has since stagnated. Its $7.5bn in last-year revenue was actually down from $7.65bn two years earlier. In recent years, the gaming industry has experienced generally sluggish growth, so EA isn’t all at fault.
- The deal is expected to close in EA’s fiscal year 2027, which starts in September 2026. The acquiring consortium has agreed to pay a $1bn fee if it fails to complete the merger within the expected closing period. EA has also agreed to a $1bn termination fee if the company’s board reverses the merger agreement or pursues a rival deal.
