Electronic Arts, the video game publisher behind “Madden NFL,” “Battlefield,” and “The Sims,” is set to be taken private in a deal that highlights both the growing financial stakes in gaming and the political entanglements of global capital.
An investor group led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and Affinity Partners, a firm run by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, along with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, has agreed to acquire EA for $55 billion. That price tag eclipses the $32 billion record set by the 2007 buyout of Texas utility TXU. EA shareholders will receive $210 per share.
The scale of the acquisition underscores Saudi Arabia’s deepening ambition to dominate interactive entertainment. “The Saudi PIF has been a very active player in the video gaming market since 2022, taking minority stakes in most scaled public video gaming publishers, and also outright purchases of companies like ESL, FACEIT, and Scopely,” wrote Andrew Marok of Raymond James. “The PIF has made its intentions to scale its gaming arm, Savvy Gaming Group, clear, and the EA deal would represent the biggest such move to date by some distance.”
But the buyout also raises political questions that go beyond gaming. PIF already owned a 9.9 percent stake in EA, and its ties to Mr. Kushner add another layer of scrutiny. Because foreign capital is involved, the deal must be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which has the authority to block transactions deemed national security risks.
“Not only does Trump’s son-in-law want to do the deal, but the president could also be inclined to look favorably on any Saudi investment because he has benefited directly from their spending,” the report noted, pointing to Saudi-backed LIV Golf’s use of Trump properties.
For EA, the buyout marks the end of a 36-year run as a public company. Founded in 1982 by William “Trip” Hawkins, a former Apple employee who grew up playing “Strat-O-Matic” board games, the company went public in 1989 at a split-adjusted 52 cents per share. Its headquarters will remain in Redwood City, Calif., and Andrew Wilson, EA’s chief executive since 2013, will stay on.
“I’ve admired (EA’s) ability to create iconic, lasting experiences, and as someone who grew up playing their games — and now enjoys them with his kids — I couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead,” Mr. Kushner said.
The deal reflects a wider trend of consolidation in gaming. Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion in 2023, and Silver Lake, another member of the EA consortium, is involved in a separate high-profile deal over TikTok’s U.S. operations. Investors are betting that franchises like “FIFA” and “The Sims” can continue to generate revenue streams in a crowded market where mobile rivals such as Epic Games are also competing fiercely.
Still, analysts remain divided on whether shareholders are getting a fair deal. “With Battlefield 6 about to launch and a pipeline that could add more than $2B in incremental bookings by FY28, the true earnings power of EA is only beginning to emerge,” wrote Mike Hickey of The Benchmark Company, who suggested $210 per share undervalues the company.
Others, like Nick McKay of Freedom Capital Markets, argued that the buyout provides certainty: “The financial backing and resources of the investor consortium should enable EA to increase its focus on long-term growth opportunities that may have been viewed as too risky or expensive as a public company.”
EA stock jumped 15 percent on reports of the takeover and rose another 4.5 percent Monday after the deal was confirmed. If approved by regulators and shareholders, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2027.