October 1, 2025, 9:25 am | Read time: 2 minutes
Electronic Arts (EA) is being sold for $55 billion to an investor consortium consisting of the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. The acquisition will lead to privatization and payout of all previous shareholders. Critics fear less diverse content under the new investors.
The well-known video game manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) is being sold in a significant multi-billion-dollar deal. A consortium made up of the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF, the U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake, and the investment company Affinity Partners is taking over the company. The goal is to privatize EA by buying out all existing shareholders from U.S. stocks.
Strategic Direction of the Acquisition
The acquisition of EA costs around $55 billion, making it the second-largest gaming deal after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. With the purchase of all shares, EA will be delisted from the stock exchange. Fans are divided. Some welcome the decision as EA will no longer be subject to the pressures of public markets, while others express concerns about the content and its diversity.
Since Electronic Arts will no longer be publicly traded, the private investors have free rein over the company’s future. Critics of the deal fear it could impact the direction of video games.
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The Investors Behind the Deal
The new owners of EA are PIF, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, Affinity Partners led by Jared Kushner, and Silver Lake, a U.S. private equity firm specializing in private equity strategies. The connection to Saudi Arabia raises skepticism due to the country’s criticism related to human rights violations.
Jared Kushner played a significant role in the acquisition. He used his connections to Saudi Arabia to convince PIF of the deal. Egon Durban, co-CEO of Silver Lake and a native German, had been planning the acquisition for over a decade—but Kushner was key to its execution.
Future Prospects and Investments
The U.S. bank JPMorgan significantly supported the deal by providing a $20 billion financing package. The consortium hopes that artificial intelligence will trigger a boom in the entertainment industry and enable significant cost savings.
Although Andrew Wilson is expected to continue as CEO of EA, the company’s future direction remains unclear. It is uncertain whether EA will focus more on sports games or adapt content under the influence of conservative views from the Middle East.