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Electronic Arts is no longer a publicly traded company. On August 4, 2026, the $55 billion acquisition of EA by a consortium made up of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners closed after clearing regulatory approval in July. It\u2019s the largest all-cash leveraged buyout in corporate history, beating the previous record \u2014 the $32 billion TXU Energy buyout from 2007 \u2014 by a wide margin.<\/p>\n
The deal was first announced back in September 2025 and approved by EA shareholders that December, so this has been a long time coming. Under the terms, EA stockholders received $210 in cash per share, a 25% premium over EA\u2019s trading price before the deal was announced. The stock has now stopped trading and is delisted from the Nasdaq entirely.<\/p>\n
Ownership breaks down like this: PIF holds 93.4% of the company, Silver Lake holds 5.5%, and Affinity Partners holds 1.1%. That last name might ring a bell \u2014 Affinity Partners was founded in 2021 by Jared Kushner, and this deal puts him directly in EA\u2019s ownership structure. Silver Lake, meanwhile, also holds a stake in the venture now overseeing TikTok\u2019s U.S. operations, so this isn\u2019t its first high-profile deal this cycle.<\/p>\n
So what does this actually mean for the studio behind EA Sports FC, Battlefield, The Sims, and Apex Legends? EA CEO Andrew Wilson framed it as entering a new phase with partners who\u2019ll \u201cinvest boldly\u201d and \u201caccelerate innovation.\u201d Silver Lake\u2019s CEO Egon Durban was more specific about where some of that investment is headed, pointing directly at AI\u2019s role in game development and player experience going forward \u2014 worth watching closely given how much debate AI-assisted development has already stirred in the industry.<\/p>\n
Going private also means EA no longer has to answer to quarterly earnings calls or public shareholders, which theoretically gives the new ownership more room for long-term bets without Wall Street looking over their shoulder every three months. Whether that translates into better games or just more aggressive monetization is the real open question, and it\u2019s one the buyout itself doesn\u2019t answer either way.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also worth noting this isn\u2019t Saudi Arabia\u2019s only foothold in gaming \u2014 PIF and its related funds already hold stakes in Nintendo, Capcom, Take-Two, SNK, and Scopely, making EA the largest and most direct acquisition yet in a broader pattern of investment across the industry. That pattern has drawn its own scrutiny, with human rights organizations like Amnesty International continuing to raise concerns about Saudi Arabia\u2019s record \u2014 criticism that\u2019s followed each of these gaming investments as they\u2019ve piled up.<\/p>\n
For now, nothing changes on the surface \u2014 EA Sports FC 26, the next Battlefield, and everything else already in the pipeline ships as planned. The real test is what EA looks like a year or two from now, once the new ownership actually starts making decisions instead of just closing paperwork.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Electronic Arts is no longer a publicly traded company. On August 4, 2026, the $55 billion acquisition of EA by a consortium made up of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners closed after clearing regulatory approval in July. It\u2019s the largest all-cash leveraged buyout in corporate history, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7042389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[3271,11043,73537,121726,121724,743,121725,7519,7293,6551,54808,5995,3698,3912],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7042387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","tag-anime","tag-billion","tag-buyout","tag-error-fixes","tag-gamedoper","tag-gaming","tag-mafia2-russia-to-english","tag-means","tag-owned","tag-players","tag-privately","tag-record","tag-reviews","tag-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n
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