Electronic Arts

Video Games · Private Equity · Sovereign Wealth Fund

Acquisition

EU clears Saudi PIF's $55B take-private of Electronic Arts

A separate EU foreign-subsidy review is due within days, the last hurdle before gaming's second-largest deal ever can close.

• The European Commission cleared the $55 billion Saudi PIF-led acquisition of Electronic Arts, ruling the deal 'would not raise competition concerns' under EU merger rules.
• EA, publisher of EA Sports FC, Battlefield and The Sims, is being taken private by a consortium in which Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund would hold roughly a 93% stake.
• The buyout, first agreed in September 2025 alongside private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, is structured as a leveraged deal funded mostly with borrowed debt.
• At $55 billion, it would be the largest leveraged buyout ever attempted and the video game industry's second-biggest deal, trailing only Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard.
• Brussels is still weighing the deal under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation, a separate review people close to the matter expect PIF to clear, with a decision due by July 30.
• PIF already holds stakes in Nintendo, Capcom, Take-Two and Embracer Group and fully owns Savvy Games Group and SNK, making EA its largest and most direct gaming acquisition yet.
• Critics frame the deal as an extension of Saudi Arabia's sports and entertainment investment strategy, aimed at reshaping its global image despite ongoing human rights criticism.