EA Goes Private as Saudi PIF Completes $55 Billion Buyout

Electronic Arts stopped trading as a public company on 4 August 2026, ending a NASDAQ listing that had run since 1990, as the $55 billion acquisition by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners closed. Stockholders receive $210 in cash for every share they held at closing, and EA’s common stock has ceased trading ahead of delisting from the exchange.

EA confirmed the closing on Tuesday, ten months after the agreement was announced and five days after the final regulatory approval landed. Andrew Wilson remains Chairman and Chief Executive, and the company stays headquartered in Redwood City, California. At $55 billion, the transaction is the largest leveraged buyout ever completed in any sector.

The Terms Of The $210-Per-Share Buyout

The $210 cash price represents a 25 percent premium on EA’s unaffected closing price of $168.32 on 25 September 2025, the last session before the deal became public. It also clears the $179.01 all-time closing high the stock had set before the acquisition was announced. EA shares finished their final trading session at $209.70, a fraction under the buyout price.

The consortium acquired 100 percent of the company. Shareholders approved the deal at a special meeting on 22 December 2025, and the last regulatory clearances came through on 30 July 2026, five days before completion.

EA’s final run as a listed company was steady rather than spectacular, with most of the recent gain coming from the stock tracking toward the agreed buyout price.

How The $55 Billion Was Funded

The equity component runs to approximately $36 billion, drawn from cash contributed by PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners together with the rollover of PIF’s existing 9.9 percent stake. All three funded that equity entirely from capital under their own control. The remaining $20 billion arrives as debt financing from J.P. Morgan Chase, with $18 billion of it funded at closing. J.P. Morgan Securities also acted as the consortium’s financial advisor.

That debt is what makes the deal a leveraged buyout rather than a straight purchase. In a leveraged buyout, the borrowing used to fund the acquisition transfers onto the books of the company being bought rather than staying with the buyers. EA therefore begins private ownership carrying roughly $20 billion in new debt.

Against that sits GAAP net revenue of approximately $7.5 billion in EA’s 2026 financial year, which ended on 31 March. The debt load is close to three times a full year of revenue, and servicing it becomes a fixed obligation the company did not previously carry, payable out of the same cash that funds game development.

Where The Deal Sits Against Gaming’s Biggest Acquisitions

EA is the second-largest acquisition in video game history by value, behind Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. It is the largest leveraged buyout ever recorded in any industry, which is a separate record and the one driven by the $20 billion debt structure rather than the headline price.

PIF Ends Up With 93.4 Percent Of Electronic Arts

The press release describes the buyers collectively as “the Consortium”, but the ownership split is heavily weighted to one party. PIF is reported to hold 93.4 percent of the new private company, leaving Silver Lake and Affinity Partners with the balance between them.

PIF is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with estimated total assets of around $900 billion and a mandate to diversify the Saudi economy. The fund names gaming and esports as one of its priority sectors. Its existing holdings include the acquisitions of Scopely, Niantic, SNK and EVO, alongside investment positions in Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive.

“Having been a minority investor in the company for more than five years, we have a deep understanding of EA’s unique platform, massive global sports and gaming franchises, and iconic IP,” said Turqi Alnowaiser, Deputy Governor and Head of International Investments at PIF. “Entertainment and sports are key areas of strategic focus for PIF, and are among the fastest growing and evolving sectors around the world.”

Silver Lake brings roughly $114 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital, across portfolio companies that generate more than $307 billion in annual revenue and employ around 433,000 people. Affinity Partners is a much smaller operation, a Miami-based firm founded in 2021 by Jared Kushner with over $6 billion under management and a team of just over 30.

Most of Affinity’s capital came from PIF, which invested $2 billion in the fund shortly after Kushner left the White House at the end of Donald Trump’s first term. Two of the three named buyers therefore trace back to the same pool of money. Kushner and Affinity Partners are currently under investigation by the House Judiciary Committee over alleged conflicts of interest connected to his role in the current administration, where he serves as Special Envoy for Peace in the Middle East.

What The New Owners Say They Will Fund

Silver Lake’s stated investment priority names artificial intelligence directly. “We’re proud to join with PIF and Affinity Partners to invest heavily in EA’s growth, including what AI can do to enhance game development and player experience,” said Egon Durban, CEO and Managing Partner of Silver Lake.

Wilson framed the closing around investment rather than restructuring. “We’re entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition,” he said. “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.” In a separate message to staff reported by The Verge, Wilson said he was more optimistic than ever about what the company would create under the new structure.

Kushner’s statement stayed on the audience side of the business. “EA has created stories, characters, and communities that have become part of everyday life for hundreds of millions of people,” he said. “We’re excited to support the company as it continues to reach new audiences, inspire the next generation of creators, and expand the ways people around the world connect through play.”

The portfolio those owners now control includes EA SPORTS FC, Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims, Madden NFL, College Football, Need for Speed, Dragon Age, Titanfall, Plants vs. Zombies and EA SPORTS F1. EA’s recent output has concentrated on that tentpole tier, and a $20 billion debt obligation gives the company a strong reason to keep concentrating there rather than funding smaller experimental releases.

The Concerns Raised Around The Deal

Going private removes EA from quarterly earnings calls and regulatory filings, which is where most public data on the company’s performance, headcount and franchise revenue has come from. Player numbers, sales figures and studio budgets that were previously disclosed on a schedule now become discretionary.

Bloomberg reported last year that multiple credit rating agencies planned to reassess EA’s credit rating once the transaction completed, with the debt load pushing that reassessment downward rather than up. Separately, analysts have raised the prospect of studio closures under the new structure, with BioWare named among the studios most exposed.

The broader criticism has centred on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. Amnesty International has documented that the country recently carried out the highest number of executions on record in a single year, and has reported a recent history of torture of prisoners, severe restrictions on freedom of expression and association, discrimination against women in both law and practice, and the criminalisation of same-sex relations and other LGBTQ+ activity.

Employees speaking to press and players commenting publicly have both raised objections on those grounds, with particular focus on The Sims. The series has spent much of its history at the front of mainstream games for representation of women and LGBTQ+ players, which puts it in direct tension with the legal position of its new majority owner.

Battlefield 6 Is The First Test Under New Ownership

EA’s next release is Battlefield 6 on 10 October 2026, the first major launch to arrive after the company went private and the first commercial signal of how the new structure performs in practice. It lands with no earnings call behind it to report the result.