Electronic Arts Arts $ 55 billion can marked the largest ransom with a borrowed tool in history and drink at a new stage of public companies that are bought by private joint -stock capital, which will lead to greater uncertainty for the game industry of Canada.
Under The transaction terms are announced on MondayA group of three buyers will pay shareholders of the company $ 210 per share.
Buyers include a private investment company Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia Sovereign Wealth Fund Pif and Affinite Partners. Affinite Partners is a private investment company managed by the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner.
Electronic art, a video game manufacturer, like Madden NFLIN The battlefieldAnd SimsIt has Canadian roots, purchasing distinctive software for Burnaby -based games in 1991 And renamed it into Electronic Arts Canada.
Currently known as EA Vancouver, this studio continued to develop some of the largest franchises of the company and has about 2,400 employees on the lower mainland. The flagship team of Vancouver is known for producing football games EA Sports FC and hockey games in the NHL.
“We are entering the new era of possibilities,” wrote EA General Director E. E. E. Andrew Wilson in the memo on Monday.
“This is one of the largest and most significant investments ever made in the entertainment industry. Our new partners bring deep experience in sports, games and entertainment. They are committed to the belief in EA-on, they believe in our people, our leadership and long-term vision that we are now building together. ”
But the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of the 2027 financial year, also causes the uncertainty of employees in the industry, which has already encountered several rounds of dismissal in The decline from the pandemic.
Bradley Shankar, a gaming editor in Tech Publication MobileSyr, said that serious acquisitions were previously observed in the game industry, but no one compared with this.
“We saw in the gaming space, publicly traded companies buy each other … But this is a group of investors of private investors, which occupies EA – so that was what we did not see and, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course [not] On this scale earlier, ”he said.
“There are many large EA names in Canada. So this is one of the big questions surrounding this deal – how will these names be affected? “
After former state -owned companies were adopted by private companies, they are often exposed to extensive cost reduction, which may include dismissal.
There were no signs that it would take place with EA, although the company takes on a debt of about $ 20 billion.
After the reduction of five percent of its labor force in 2024, the EA ended in March with 14,500 employees, and then fired several hundred people in May.
EA did not answer the CBC News request for comments.
Growing investments in Saudi Arabia
According to Shankar, the acquisition of PIF, the fund of sovereign wealth of Saudi Arabia, headed by the hereditary prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
“Even before that they had a share in EA, they are interested in Nintendo, Capcom, Take-Two Interactive, which is the Maternal company Rockstar, which makes Grand Theft Auto, so they obviously already attach hands in many pies,” he said.
“Since they are private, there are many speculations. When you are a publicly trading company, you have much more responsibility in terms of the numbers that you release, and there, at least a little more transparency. ”
According to Human Raits Vatch, “the PIF contributed and favorably directly from serious violations of human rights associated with the Crown Prince Muhammad.”
“PIF investments in the United States, Great Britain and other places of the world also serve [as] powerful tool For soft power and the influence of Saudi Arabia, ”said November 2024 report on the fund.
Despite the fact that the EA video games still have hot after the last three financial years of its annual income were stagnant, which ranges from $ 7.4 billion. USA to 7.6 billion dollars. USA.
