Gaming giant Electronic Arts bought in unprecedented $55bn deal

Electronic Arts (EA), one of the largest gaming companies in the world, agreed with the company to sell the company for $ 55 billion (41 billion pounds).

The consortium of buyers includes the state investment fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), Silver Lake and Affinity Partners Jared Kushner.

EA is known for creating and publishes bestsellers such as EA FC, previously known as FIFA, SIMS and MASS Effect.

This is considered the largest ransom in history, where a significant amount of purchase is funded by borrowing money.

The transaction will take EA Private – that is, all its public actions will be purchased, and it will no longer bargain on the stock exchange.

The purchase price sets a significant 25% prize at the EA market value, it is assessed at 210 dollars per share.

This is the second most valuable game purchase in history after Microsoft for $ 69 billion for the purchase of Call of Duty Publisher Activision Blizzard, which took place after significant battles with global regulators interested in the UK, this can damage competition.

In the end, the transaction was approved only after Microsoft transferred the rights to distribute the company's games on the consoles and the PC above the cloud to Assassin's Creed Maker Ubisoft.

E.A. Boss Andrew Wilson, who will remain at the post office, said that this is a “powerful recognition” of the company.

“Together with our partners, we will create a transforming experience to inspire generations,” he said.

The EA companies will pay approximately $ 36 billion, and the remaining amount will be funded by loans.

“EA was open to a potential buyer to help align for a while,” said the BBC expert, industry expert Christopher Dringe.

“But acquisition from private capital is a surprise, and there is a great alarm in this transaction in the industry.”

He said that there are fears that the transaction will lead to a debt of $ 20 billion, which should be returned.

“The income received in the framework of large games, such as EA Sports FC, Madden and Battlefield 6, will be required to serve this debt, which can affect EA's ability to invest in new games,” he said.

“Other problems of the industry are whether this can lead to a further reduction in EA, especially if private companies exert pressure to provide a stronger cash flow, again to update this debt.”

This is a huge purchase of a company that was a synonym for the gaming industry for more than 40 years.

At that time, EA was responsible for some of the largest series of games in history. His football titles, now known as EA FC, sold 325 million copies from the moment of the first release in 1993.

SIMS sold more than 200 million copies and the need for a speed of more than 150 million.

But it was also the publisher of many other popular names – it is often a choice for games in the Harry Potter and James Bond series in the past.

The purchase will become a large game pen in the caps of Saudi Arabia, which in recent years increases its presence in the industry.

In March 2025, the country's investment fund paid $ 3.5 billion for the purchase of the Niantic game unit, which gives him control over the popular Pokémon Go mobile game.

The purchase became part of the Scoply Inc – manufacturers of Monopoly Go, which itself was purchased by a subsidiary of PIF Savvy Games for $ 4.9 billion in 2023.

Saudi Arabia raised the waves in the e -sports industry, holding large tournaments, including the World Eying Championship, and the planned Olympic Games in the 2027 Olympic Games will also be held in it.

The country already has bets in other large gaming companies, such as Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive, but the purchase of EA notes a significant expansion of its coverage.

Its PIF has hundreds of billions of assets from his oil wealth, and he is controlled by the prince of the country Mohammed Bin Salman, whose government was accused of violations of human rights.

The 2019 UN report says: “The state of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who criticized the country's government.

Saudi Arabia has always denied this.