EA Goes Private in $55B Sale, With Saudi Arabia Holding 94% Stake
Electronic Arts has been acquired by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake Partners, and Affinity Partners in what is being called the largest leveraged buyout in history. The company's stock has been delisted from NASDAQ.
The Biggest Leveraged Buyout in History Is Done
Electronic Arts is no longer a publicly traded company. The $55 billion sale that was first announced last September became official on August 4, making it the largest leveraged buyout in history, according to reporting by Dot Esports. EA’s stock has been delisted from NASDAQ, closing a long chapter in the company’s life as one of gaming’s most recognizable public corporations.
The buyers are Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, technology investment firm Silver Lake Partners, and Affinity Partners, the firm founded by Jared Kushner. The Wall Street Journal reports that PIF will hold nearly 94% of the company, making Saudi Arabia the effective owner of one of the biggest publishers in the games business. Silver Lake takes 5.5%, and Affinity Partners lands at 1.1%. Affinity Partners is currently under investigation by the House Judiciary Committee over potential conflicts of interest tied to Kushner’s earlier role as Special Envoy for Peace in the Middle East.
In a press release following the close of the deal, EA CEO Andrew Wilson framed the transition in optimistic terms. “We’re entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition,” Wilson wrote. “Together, we’ll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day.”
What Changes and What Probably Doesn’t
For the portion of EA’s audience that just wants to play Madden or grind EA FC’s Ultimate Team, life will likely carry on without dramatic disruption. Those franchises are reliable revenue engines, and nothing in the current reporting suggests the new owners have any reason to shake them up. Live-service titles like Apex Legends, which has its own competitive scene, are also expected to continue on their current trajectories.
The picture gets murkier when you look further down EA’s studio roster. BioWare and Maxis are the names drawing the most concern. Maxis, the studio behind The Sims, faced intense backlash from its community when the deal was first announced. The Sims has long included meaningful representation of LGBTQ+ communities, and many fans are worried that the values of EA’s new majority owner may not align with that history. Whether those concerns translate into actual changes at the studio remains to be seen, but the anxiety is real and not unfounded.
The Transparency Problem and the AI Bet
One of the more quietly significant consequences of this deal is the loss of visibility into EA’s operations. Publicly traded companies hold shareholder calls, file detailed financial reports, and operate under layers of regulatory disclosure. All of that goes away now. Outsiders trying to understand what EA is doing, what projects are being greenlit or canceled, and how the company is performing financially will have far fewer data points to work with.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the three buyers are heavily counting on artificial intelligence to reduce costs at EA. That is a deeply contested idea across the games industry, where concerns about AI displacing developers and eroding the creative workforce have been building for years. The esports and live-service corners of gaming depend on constant content updates, community engagement, and developer output. If aggressive AI adoption leads to the kind of staff reductions that observers consider likely, those pipelines could get squeezed in ways that players eventually notice.
Large-scale layoffs hitting EA in the near term are considered highly probable by the reporting, though no specifics have been announced. For a company that already went through painful rounds of cuts in recent years, another wave would land on a workforce that has had very little time to stabilize.
Who now owns Electronic Arts?
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund holds nearly 94% of EA following the finalized $55 billion deal. Silver Lake Partners owns 5.5% and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners owns 1.1%, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
What happens to EA's games and franchises?
Major franchises like Madden, EA FC, and Apex Legends are expected to continue largely unchanged. However, studios like BioWare and Maxis are in less certain positions, and large-scale layoffs are considered likely as the new owners are reportedly betting on AI to cut costs.
Is EA still a publicly traded company?
No. EA's stock has been delisted from NASDAQ as part of the buyout. The company is now private, which means the shareholder calls that previously offered public transparency into EA's operations will no longer take place.