Key Points
- Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) is being acquired for $55 billion.
- The deal is the largest leveraged buyout in history, surpassing the 2007 TXU deal.
- The buyers are Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s PIF, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.
- The acquisition will take EA private, marking the end of its 36-year history on the stock market.
Video game giant Electronic Arts, the company behind massive franchises like “Madden NFL” and “The Sims,” is being acquired for $55 billion in the largest leveraged buyout in history. The deal will take the company private, marking the end of its 36-year run as a publicly traded company.
A group of investors, including private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Affinity Partners, will pay EA shareholders $210 per share. Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, runs Affinity Partners.
The massive deal was not entirely unexpected, as reports of the discussions had leaked late last week. The $55 billion price tag surpasses the previous record for a leveraged buyout, the $32 billion deal to take Texas utility TXU private back in 2007.
The acquisition marks the end of an era for EA, a pioneer in the video game industry.
The company was founded in 1982 by a former Apple employee and went public seven years later. Its shares, which ended their first day of trading at a split-adjusted $0.52, have grown into a multi-billion-dollar empire. Now, the gaming powerhouse will enter a new chapter under private ownership.
