EA is now officially a private company as it’s enormous $55 billion sale to Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners is now complete, marking the end of a nearly year-long business deal. The company made the announcement via a press release yesterday as the buyout came to it’s end, while providing a brief overview of things to come :
“This moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition and passion have made EA one of the world’s leading interactive entertainment companies,” Andrew Wilson, Chairman & CEO of Electronic Arts, has stated.
“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.”
“Having been a minority investor in the company for more than five years, we have a deep understanding of EA’s unique platform, massive global sports and gaming franchises, and iconic IP,” Turqi Alnowaiser, Deputy Governor and Head of International Investments at PIF, added.
“Entertainment and sports are key areas of strategic focus for PIF, and are among the fastest growing and evolving sectors around the world. Together, the Consortium is uniquely positioned to be a long-term partner to EA’s management team in driving sustained growth and innovation for EA and the industry.”
The EA sale to Saudi Arabia and other equity firms is the largest leveraged buyout in history yet, and is funded by a $36 billion equity investment and $20 billion in new debt financing. Also, upon completion of the deal, the PIF will own over 93% of EA, although Andrew Wilson will continue to remain as the CEO and it will stay headquartered in Redwood City, California.
Regarding the aforementioned debt, it was previously reported that the current EA deal can also result in lots of potential layoffs and even closures of multiple studios which could pose serious threats to many developers and workers in the industry. There have already been multiple rounds of layoffs in the company with employees in Bioware recently expressing concerns of even larger-scale job cuts that can occur once the buyout is officially over.
