EA Is Now Private After $55 Billion Buyout Closes
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund holds 93.4% of the new ownership group, with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners as minority partners.
Electronic Arts is now a private company after its $55 billion acquisition closed on August 4, 2026, ending the company’s 36-year run as a publicly traded business. EA first announced the transaction in September 2025 and later secured the required regulatory approvals before the sale closed. EA’s shares are no longer listed on NASDAQ; the company had returned to the exchange in March 1990.
The buying group includes Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, with PIF holding a 93.4% super-majority stake. Silver Lake holds 5.5% of the ownership group, while Affinity Partners holds 1.1%.
That puts control of major EA franchises, including The Sims, Battlefield, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, in the hands of the consortium. The transaction was described as the biggest leveraged buyout in gaming history and was valued well above EA’s previous market value. By overall transaction value, it ranks as the second-largest deal in gaming history, behind Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. Around $20 billion of the deal came through debt.
PIF already has investments connected to Take-Two Interactive and owns SNK, giving the Saudi sovereign wealth fund existing ties to other major gaming companies. Turqi Alnowaiser, PIF’s deputy governor and head of international investments, said the fund had been a minority investor in EA for more than five years and described the consortium as a long-term partner for EA’s management team.
In EA’s announcement, CEO Andrew Wilson said, “This moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition and passion have made EA one of the world’s leading interactive entertainment companies.”
Wilson added, “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.”
Silver Lake managing partner Egon Durban has also identified artificial intelligence as part of the group’s plans for game development and player experiences.
What EA’s private ownership could mean for its games
EA’s move away from public ownership will reduce the amount of financial information available through the company’s regular investor-relations process. Earnings calls, business reports, leadership updates, and other planning documents will no longer be presented through the same public-company structure.
The deal also carries political baggage because of PIF’s involvement. Human Rights Watch’s report on abuses linked to PIF and the U.S. State Department’s 2024 country report on Saudi Arabia both document human-rights concerns connected to the country and its institutions.
Amnesty International’s reporting on Saudi Arabia also documents discrimination against women and says unfair trials for criminal offenses remain common. In a separate report on Jamal Khashoggi citing a United Nations investigation, Amnesty says the Saudi government was responsible for the journalist’s premeditated extrajudicial killing; Saudi Arabia has denied involvement.
Those concerns also reach EA’s game portfolio. The Sims has a large LGBTQ+ community, while BioWare’s Dragon Age and Mass Effect series include queer themes. Same-sex relationships remain illegal in Saudi Arabia, where the death penalty is the maximum punishment. What the new ownership means for those franchises remains unclear.
Concerns about the ownership transition had already reached The Sims community during the sale process, when several high-profile creators left EA’s creator network. The development team later said that the game’s mission and values would remain intact, as covered in the creator network fallout. Maxis, the studio behind The Sims, also said its commitment to inclusivity and creative direction would remain unchanged after the ownership transition.
EA had also made layoffs affecting Battlefield 6 developers before the buyout closed. With the transaction carrying billions in debt and the company no longer required to report like a public publisher, future decisions about staffing, development budgets, and franchise support will receive close attention. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier warned in a post on Bluesky that the buyout could bring “mass layoffs, more aggressive monetization, and other big cost-cutting measures.” For now, EA’s new owners have offered broad promises about growth and creativity rather than details about individual games.
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