Electronic Arts is reportedly looking to go private in a buyout deal roughly worth $50 billion (roughly Rs. 4,43,767 crore) The video game company, whose franchises include Battlefield and EA Sports FC, is said to be in “advanced talks” with a group of investors that include Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), private-equity firm Silver Lake, and investment firm Affinity Partners, which belongs to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.According to a Wall Steet Journal report published Friday (paywalled), EA could confirm the deal this week. The $50-billion deal is said to likely be the largest leveraged buyout of all time. The company’s stock price is up nearly 15 percent, currently at $193.35, since the publication of the WSJ report. EA’s current market cap stands at $48.38 billion.Neither EA nor the investment firms have commented on the reported deal yet.PIF’s Gaming InvestmentsPIF, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, has significant investments in tech firms like Uber, along with stakes in a smattering of US firms. The fund also has several investments in video game companies like Nintendo, Capcom, Take-Two, among others.Additionally, PIF owns Savvy Games Group, which acquired Pokémon Go owner Niantic’s gaming business, including the hit game, for $3.5 billion (roughly Rs. 30,465 crore) earlier this year.In July, EA reported strong earnings for the first quarter of FY 2026, with net bookings of $1.298 billion exceeding projections on the basis of strong performances from EA Sports and Apex Legends.With a strong slate of releases, including the highly anticipated Battlefield 6 next month, EA expects net bookings between $7.6 billion and $8 billion in FY 2026. The company launched EA Sports FC 26, the annual entry in its popular football video game franchise, on September 26, the day the news of the deal broke.The deal to take EA private would be the second largest video gaming deal in history, behind only Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard for $75 billion in 2023. The games industry has seen a few big moves in recent years. Take-Two acquired mobile game maker Zynga in 2022 for $12.7 billion, while Microsoft purchased Bethesda parent Zenimax in 2021 for $7.5 billion. PIF’s Savvy Games Group acquired US mobile game maker Scopely for $4.9 billion in 2023.
Source: gadgets360.com
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