Saudi PIF's $55 Billion EA Deal Gets EU Approval Under Subsidy Rules
The deal would make EA private and is expected to be the second-largest acquisition in video game history, after Microsoft’s $75.4 billion Activision Blizzard purchase.
- Electronic Arts announced Thursday that all regulatory approvals for its $55 billion sale have been obtained, with the merger expected to close on August 4, 2026.
- A consortium composed of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund , Silver Lake Partners, and Affinity Partners—a private equity firm owned by President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner—will acquire the company.
- This deal represents the second-largest gaming acquisition, trailing only Microsoft's $75.4 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard in 2023; CEO Andrew Wilson received an $8 million bonus for past fiscal performance.
- Taking the company private will end public financial disclosures; Wilson is expected to remain CEO at the California headquarters, though thousands of employees face uncertainty following recent layoffs affecting Apex Legends and BioWare.
- The Saudi Arabia PIF has aggressively expanded its gaming portfolio, purchasing stakes in Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive, and has fully acquired mobile developers Scopely and Niantic, creators of Pokemon.
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The EU clears the $55bn Saudi-led buyout of EA under its subsidy rules
The European Commission approved the PIF-led take-private of Electronic Arts under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation, removing one of the last hurdles to the biggest leveraged buyout ever. The European Union has cleared the $55bn takeover of Electronic Arts by a Saudi-led consortium, removing one of the last regulatory hurdles to the largest leveraged buyout in […] This story continues at The Next Web
Saudi PIF's $55 billion EA deal gets EU approval under subsidy rules
BRUSSELS, July 31 : Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and a group of investors have gained EU approval for their $55 billion acquisition of video game developer Electronic Arts under the bloc's subsidy rules, a European Commission filing showed on Friday.In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Electronic Arts
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