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🇫🇮 Finland /Economy & Trade

Gaming giant EA sold for $55 billion to buyers including Trump's son-in-law

From Helsingin Sanomat · () Finnish

Translated from Finnish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency New plan
  • Gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) has been sold for $55 billion to a consortium including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners.
  • The deal, reportedly the largest leveraged buyout in history, involves taking EA private, delisting its shares from the stock market.
  • Concerns have been raised about potential layoffs, increased monetization, and significant cost-saving measures due to the substantial debt financing the acquisition.

US gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) has been acquired for $55 billion (approximately 48 billion euros) by a consortium of investors, including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), American investment firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. The news was reported by multiple media outlets, including the BBC.

EA is renowned for its popular game franchises such as EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA), The Sims, Mass Effect, and Battlefield. The acquisition, led by Affinity Partners, which includes Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, will take EA private. This means all publicly traded shares will be bought out, and EA's stock will no longer be traded on the public market.

The deal is being described as the largest leveraged buyout in history, with a significant portion of the purchase price financed by loans. This has sparked concerns about how the repayment of this debt will impact EA's business operations.

According to the BBC, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier anticipates potential "widespread" layoffs, increased monetization of games, and other substantial cost-saving measures as a consequence of the acquisition. Christopher Dring, editor-in-chief and founding member of Game Business publication, further suggested that the nature of the buyout indicates the investor group will be actively involved in EA's management.

widespread layoffs

— Jason SchreierBloomberg reporter Jason Schreier anticipates potential widespread layoffs at EA following its acquisition.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Helsingin Sanomat in Finnish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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