EA Agrees to $55B Take‑Private Led by PIF, Kushner

Electronic Arts agreed to be acquired in an all‑cash transaction valuing the company at about $55 billion, with buyers offering $210 per share. The consortium is led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund alongside Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners; PIF will roll its roughly 9.9% stake. The transaction includes a reported $1 billion termination fee and is being described as the largest private equity‑funded/leveraged buyout on record. The deal is expected to close in early fiscal 2027 pending shareholder and regulatory approvals, including a national security review, and will end EA’s 36‑year history as a public company. Observers have raised strategic and regulatory concerns about sovereign‑wealth and Kushner‑linked involvement and warned private‑equity ownership could intensify profit‑driven practices such as microtransaction monetization while also potentially enabling longer‑term investments.