Electronic Arts Officially Went Private—The Company Is Now Acquired By PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners

It has been confirmed that, for the first time since 1990, Electronic Arts has changed its ownership and is once again a publicly traded company. The $55 billion deal was successfully completed, and the developers are now owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners.

In an official press release, Andrew Wilson, Chairman and CEO of Electronic Arts, announced that a new era had begun for the company and that the owners supported the studio’s long-term vision to establish itself as a leading developer of video games and content. Andrew Wilson’s full statement regarding the acquisition of Electronic Arts by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners can be viewed below:

“This moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition and passion have made EA one of the world's leading interactive entertainment companies. We're entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition. Together, we'll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day.”

Despite the overwhelmingly positive comments in the press release from Andrew Wilson and other EA officials, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier stated that the company’s new owners plan to cut costs by approximately $700 million annually. Of this sum, as Schreiber writes, $170 million relates to ‘organizational efficiencies’—in other words, this means job cuts. However, Electronic Arts has not yet commented on its future plans following the acquisition. Schreiber’s exact words can be seen below:

EA officially goes private, meaning:

• EA will no longer trade on the NASDAQ for the first time in 36 years
• All stockholders of EA (including many employees) will receive $210/share
• EA will take on $18 billion (!) in debt, putting it on the hook to pay ~$1.8 billion/year in interest

EA's annual Ebitda is around $1.5 billion, which should be enough to service the interest payments. But the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in "organizational efficiencies," per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs

In any case, it will be interesting to see how things turn out for Electronic Arts, given that the studio hasn’t always been successful in recent years. Nevertheless, according to the latest financial report, it has recently become known that the company’s net profit has almost doubled over the quarter, largely thanks to Battlefield 6. Given that EA Sports FC 27—the latest installment of its football simulator that attracts millions of fans worldwide every year—is set to be released next month, the financial numbers are likely to keep rising. All the more so as the new game will offer a host of innovations in gameplay, the ‘Career’ mode and Ultimate Team, and—for the first time ever— will include an open-world mode titled The Grounds.