EA is now privately owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund
Electronic Arts completed its $55 billion take-private deal on August 4, 2026, making it the largest leveraged buyout ever recorded. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) now owns 93.4% of the company, with Silver Lake holding 5.5% and Affinity Partners — the firm co-founded by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law — taking a 1.1% stake. EA shares are delisted; the company no longer reports to public investors, per Business Wire.
The deal
The acquisition was financed by roughly $36 billion in equity and $20 billion in debt arranged through JPMorgan Chase Bank. That debt sits on EA's books and will consume a significant share of the company's revenues for years. CEO Andrew Wilson keeps his job and collected around $105 million for his shares in the deal. His statement at closing leaned heavily optimistic: "I am more excited than ever about what we will build together."
The regulatory path was bumpy. The EU cleared the deal on July 23, 2026 with no competition objections. CFIUS — the US panel that reviews foreign investments for national security risk — took the longest of any regulator to sign off, according to Shacknews. More than 40 House Democrats urged the FTC to scrutinize the deal over both the Saudi ownership angle and the Kushner connection, but the acquisition cleared all hurdles and closed on schedule.
What changes — and what doesn't
EA's headquarters stays in Redwood City. No employee changes have been announced, though the company has been running layoffs in parallel with the deal process. The game catalog — Battlefield, EA Sports FC, The Sims, Need for Speed, Dead Space, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and more — remains intact.
The bigger shift is structural. EA has been a publicly traded company since its 1989 IPO. Going private means no more quarterly earnings calls, no SEC disclosure requirements, and no shareholder votes on strategy. Decisions now flow through PIF in Riyadh, Silver Lake, and a board that answers to none of the accountability mechanisms public markets impose.
The $20 billion question
A $20 billion debt load at current interest rates is not a trivial thing for a games publisher. Cost pressure of that scale historically pushes private-equity-backed companies toward aggressive restructuring — studio closures, layoffs, franchise milking — rather than long-term creative investment. EA's franchises are strong, but the financial math will test how much creative autonomy survives the ownership change.
