Saudi Arabia is buying Electronic Arts for $55 Billion

Saudi Arabia is now taking over Electronic Arts, meaning that Electronic Arts next week will not exactly be its own company anymore. Electronic Arts will next week be sold to Saudi Arabia for $55 billion.

Electronic Arts will next week officially become a private company after the Saudi Public Investment Fund, shortened to PIF, together with major investment partners, received all the necessary regulatory approvals for the $55 billion acquisition of the company. EA of course expects the transaction to be completed around August 4, 2026.

This is especially interesting because EA confirmed in a new document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, shortened to SEC, that all regulatory approvals needed for the transaction to be completed have been obtained. All that remains is for some of the usual conditions to be fulfilled, after which the acquisition will be completed.

Basically, this means that EA will soon stop being a publicly traded company on the stock market and become a private company under the control of its new owners. PIF will own more than 93% of EA after this transaction is completed, while the investors also include Silver Lake as well as Affinity Partners.

But there is one huge catch... And that is that this is not just a $55 billion purchase from a single pocket. The transaction is structured as a leveraged buyout, which means that EA will take on around $20 billion in new debt that needs to be repaid. Because of this, there is a very high possibility that the new owners will be under major pressure to cut costs and focus on the most profitable projects and games. All of this could in translation lead to even more layoffs, canceled projects and a greater focus on EA franchises such as Battlefield and EA Sports FC.

Electronic Arts will become a private company around August 4 following the $55 billion Saudi takeover.

PIF will control more than 93% of EA, but the company will simultaneously take on around $20 billion in debt, meaning that the new owners could aggressively cut costs and push EA even harder toward its biggest franchises such as Battlefield and EA Sports FC.