In September, Electronic Arts revealed that there’s a $55 billion deal in place to bring the company private under Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, the private equity firm Silver Lake, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Now, a new report indicates that the PIF may be given near complete control of the company, because Saudi Arabia is putting up most of the money to complete the deal.
According to The Wall Street Journal, EA’s potential buyers have disclosed that PIF would be given 93.4% of EA in a document filed with Brazil’s antitrust regulator. Silver Lake would only own 5.5% of the company, while Affinity would have a much smaller share: 1.1%. PIF is also a major investor in both Silver Lake and Affinity, which would leave it with more power over EA.
WSJ notes that sovereign-wealth funds like the PIF normally make much smaller investments in buyouts like this one, while private-equity firms would take the lead as the primary owners and investors. Saudi Arabia has already invested in several video game companies, including Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive. In this year alone, Saudi Arabian-owned mobile developer Scopely purchased Niantic’s video game division, the company behind Pokemon Go and other mobile titles.
This is an intriguing development for EA and the gaming industry as a whole. The potential shift in control could lead to significant changes in how the company operates. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds and what it means for gamers.
ownership could definitely reshape EA’s strategic direction and game development priorities. It’s interesting to consider how this might impact their approach to global markets and player engagement, especially in regions where the Saudi Public Investment Fund has significant interests.