EA's Record $55 Billion Saudi-Led Buyout: Every Key Detail of the Largest LBO in History

On August 4, 2026, Electronic Arts (EA) — the maker of Madden NFL, Battlefield, EA Sports FC, and The Sims — ended its 35-year run as a publicly traded company. The event was not a routine delisting. It was the closing of the largest leveraged buyout in history: a $55 billion all-cash deal that handed control of one of the world's most valuable game studios to a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

Here is the complete breakdown of the acquisition: who bought EA, how they paid for it, what regulators said, the final public earnings report, and what the transition to a private company means for the future of the studio.

The Consortium: Who Bought EA?

The acquisition was announced on September 29, 2025, by three investors: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), technology-focused private equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, the investment firm led by Jared Kushner .

Under the final ownership split that emerged during regulatory filings, PIF controls 93.4% of EA's shares. Affinity Partners holds 1.1%, and Silver Lake along with management holds the remaining 5.5% .

PIF was already a shareholder before the deal: it rolled over its existing 9.9% stake rather than cashing out, a move that reduced the amount of fresh equity the consortium needed to raise .

The Deal Structure: $210 Per Share, All Cash

The transaction was structured as a straightforward all-cash buyout at $210 per share — a 25% premium over EA's unaffected share price of $168.32 before deal rumors surfaced . The total enterprise value was approximately $55 billion .

The consortium contributed approximately $36 billion in equity, with the remainder funded by debt .

The Debt Financing: $20 Billion and ~6x Leverage

This was not just the largest LBO by enterprise value; it was also one of the most ambitious debt raises ever attempted for a single company. The consortium secured roughly $20 billion in total committed debt financing, implying approximately 6x gross leverage at close . JPMorgan Chase served as the sole lead arranger .

Key debt components included:

• $5.75 billion Term Loan B: A seven-year facility split into $4 billion in US dollars and approximately $1.75 billion equivalent in euros and sterling, marketed by JPMorgan starting March 2026 .
• $8 billion junk bond sale: Launched in late March 2026, split into $5.5 billion in secured notes (USD and euro tranches) and $2.5 billion in unsecured dollar bonds . The secured notes priced at 7.25% (USD) and 6.25% (euro tranche), with unsecured paper at higher yields .

The debt offering drew over $45 billion in total investor demand, reflecting strong appetite for high-yield paper even as broader leveraged finance markets showed signs of stress . On the loan side, the US term loan was ultimately upsized to $6.125 billion, with European tranches also increasing .

Regulatory Timeline: How the Deal Won Approval

The buyout faced regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts before closing.

• EU Approval (July 2026): In July 2026, the European Commission was set to clear the deal under EU subsidy rules, sources told Reuters .
• Final Clearance (July 30, 2026): EA filed an 8-K with the SEC confirming that all regulatory approvals had been obtained .
• CFIUS Review: Earlier in 2026, the deal was reported to have stalled at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but the consortium ultimately cleared that hurdle .
• Closing (August 4, 2026): The transaction closed on or about the close of trading on August 4, 2026, as confirmed by EA's SEC filing and reported by IGN .

EA's Final Public Earnings: Q1 FY2026

One day before the deal closed, on August 3, 2026, EA reported its last quarterly results as a public company . The numbers were a mixed bag:

• Revenue: $1.99 billion, up significantly year-over-year .
• Diluted EPS: $1.56 .
• Net bookings: Missed analyst estimates, coming in below expectations .

For the full fiscal year 2026, EA posted record net bookings of $8.026 billion, up 9% year-over-year, driven by the successful launch of Battlefield 6 and growth in live services .

Reuters reported that the quarterly bookings miss reflected headwinds from the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI (Rockstar/Take-Two), which was expected to pull player time and spending away from EA's live-service titles in the quarters ahead .

What Going Private Means for EA

With the deal closed, EA exits SEC quarterly filing obligations and public shareholder scrutiny . Key implications:

• Leadership stays: CEO Andrew Wilson retained his role and continues to lead the company .
• Headquarters remain: EA's Redwood City, California headquarters remains in place .
• Debt servicing pressure: The ~$20 billion in debt will need to be serviced primarily from cash flows generated by EA's biggest franchises (EA Sports FC, Madden, Battlefield 6), which may constrain investment in new IP and raise the risk of further cost cuts .

Industry analysts have expressed concerns that the debt burden could reduce EA's ability to invest in new game development, and there is broader unease about sovereign wealth fund ownership of a major Western game developer .

The Broader Context: Saudi Arabia's Gaming Strategy

The EA acquisition is the centerpiece of Saudi Arabia's ambitious push into gaming under Vision 2030, the kingdom's plan to diversify its economy away from oil.

• PIF's gaming subsidiary, Savvy Games Group (chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman), previously purchased Scopely Inc for $4.9 billion (2023) and Niantic's gaming division (including Pokémon Go) for $3.5 billion (March 2025) .
• PIF already holds stakes in Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, Activision Blizzard, and other gaming companies .
• Saudi Arabia has hosted the Esports World Cup and will host the 2027 Olympic Esports Games .

The deal follows Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (2023), making this the second-largest gaming acquisition ever and the largest leveraged buyout in history .